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 initially proposed to provide sales consultancy services to American companies as a sales manager, then, in response to an RFE, proposed instead to found and serve as CEO of a trading company offering brokering, sales consulting, and market analysis services to small and medium-sized U.S. businesses.
Field: sales management / business · Read the decision (uscis.gov)
EB-2 threshold — addressed
AAO found the Petitioner qualified as an advanced degree professional via a foreign bachelor's degree plus five years of progressive experience.
Prong 1 — national importancenot established · dispositive
“the business plan does not sufficiently demonstrate the potential implications of services to be provided by the company to its customers within a particular field or industry”
“the business plan does not provide sufficient detail of the basis for these projections or adequately explain how these income and staffing targets will be realized”
“a shortage of qualified professionals alone is not sufficient to demonstrate eligibility for the national interest waiver”
“the record does not sufficiently establish that the company will be operating its business in the underserved business zones”
“she did not provide specific plans, detailed projects, or other sufficient evidence to explain how her sales strategies, marketing plans, business relationships, and more business opportunities will have broader implications”
“the documents do not directly relate to the Petitioner's specific endeavor of starting a trading company in the fields of sales and international law”
AAO decision text
How the evidence was treated
- recommendation letter · discounted
“it appears that these letters were submitted to support the second prong to demonstrate that the Petitioner is well positioned to advance the proposed endeavor”
AAO decision text - business plan · discounted
“the business plan does not provide sufficient detail of the basis for these projections or adequately explain how these income and staffing targets will be realized”
AAO decision text - degree · credited
- resume experience · credited
- other · discounted
“the documents do not directly relate to the Petitioner's specific endeavor”
AAO decision text
Where this case turned
- Business plan speculative · p1 — projections without a documented basis or steps
- Economic claims unsupported · p1 — job/revenue projections with no corroborating basis
- Endeavor too vague · p1 — described as a job role, not a defined undertaking
- Field importance conflated with endeavor · p1 — argues the field matters, not the specific endeavor
- Local, not national scope · p1 — impact confined to clients / a region
- Occupational shortage argument rejected · p1 — argues a labor shortage — the labor-certification question, not Dhanasar
Notable
The Petitioner changed her proposed endeavor mid-proceeding (from working as a sales manager/consultant to founding and serving as CEO of a new trading company), and the AAO evaluated both iterations under prong one, finding neither sufficiently supported. The AAO expressly declined to reach prongs two and three despite the Petitioner's arguments on appeal, citing Bagamasbad and Matter of L-A-C-.
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.
- 8 C.F.R. 103.3
- 8 C.F.R. 204.5(k)(2)
- Matter of L-A-C-
- Poursina v. USCIS
What this case teaches
Analyst reading of the decision text.
Petitioner failed to show the proposed endeavor (shifting between sales manager, consultancy, and later a new trading company) had national importance; business plan lacked concrete customers, industry scope, or substantiated economic/job projections.
Fix a single, well-defined endeavor early and support it with quantified, industry-specific evidence of scale and broader field impact—not shifting business models or generic economic rhetoric.
vague
economic_growth_generic · economic_job_creation · geographic_or_shortage_area
person_focused
Cases in adjacent profiles
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- The Petitioner, a sales manager, proposed an endeavor in the United States for which he sought an EB-2 national interest
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