NIW Bearings
dismissedJUN272025_03B52032025-06-27 · appeal

This is an AAO appeal decision — a case denied once and appealed. It shows how the framework is applied; it is not the filing population.

The Petitioner sought to provide international business and legal advisory services to help foreign investors and U.S. companies navigate compliance, operations, and strategic growth through his own consulting practice.

Field: international legal advisory / business consulting · Read the decision (uscis.gov)

Prong 1 — national importancenot established · dispositive

the Petitioner does not offer sufficient evidence establishing that these economic ripple effects would be attributable to the proposed endeavor
it does not demonstrate that benefits to the regional or national economy resulting from the Petitioner's undertaking would reach the level of "substantial positive economic effects"
does not demonstrate that the prospective impact of the proposed endeavor will extend beyond his clients to more broadly impact the field of business consulting
It is the importance and prospective impact of the specific endeavor we must analyze and not the industry itself.

AAO decision text

How the evidence was treated

  • business plan · discounted
    does not demonstrate that benefits to the regional or national economy resulting from the Petitioner's undertaking would reach the level of "substantial positive economic effects"
    AAO decision text
  • recommendation letter · discounted
    does not specify how this will result in the proposed endeavor generating the claimed significant economic impacts
    AAO decision text
  • media · discounted
    they are not evidence of the national importance of the Petitioner's proposed endeavor itself
    AAO decision text

Where this case turned

  • Economic claims unsupported · p1job/revenue projections with no corroborating basis
  • Employer-specific benefit · p1"work furthers my company's product" — value accrues to one firm
  • Field importance conflated with endeavor · p1argues the field matters, not the specific endeavor
2,501coded decisions carry the failure named in this record. A placement shows where your profile sits among them, not what it predicts.See where your profile sits — 90 seconds

Notable

AAO frames its prong-1 sub-findings (unsupported ripple effects, insufficient job-creation impact, lack of field-wide effect, background-only articles) as independent and alternate bases for dismissal, though all are coded under prong 1 since AAO explicitly reserved prong 3 and did not disturb SCOPS' favorable prong-2 finding.

Authorities this decision leans on

From the doctrinal survivor set — 187 authority tests across 47 distinct authorities cleared the differential-lift gates. Only those appear here.

  • Flores v. Garland

Cases in adjacent profiles