NIW Bearings
dismissedMAR012024_02B52032024-03-01 · appeal · Texas Service Center

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 Beneficiary founded his own company to provide tax preparation, tax planning, accounting, strategic business planning, and incorporation consulting services to clients, primarily small businesses in South Florida.

Field: accounting and financial consulting · Read the decision (uscis.gov)

Prong 1 — national importancenot established · dispositive

“the relevant question is not the importance of the field, industry, or profession in which the individual will work; instead, we focus on the "the specific endeavor that the noncitizen proposes to undertake."”
“neither the Petitioner nor the Beneficiary point to any corroborating evidence that would directly link the specific endeavor to the overall economy's growth.”
“the plan did not elaborate on these projections or provide evidence supporting the need for these employees.”
“we are not persuaded by the professor's claim that the Beneficiary's proposed endeavor has national importance due to the shortage of professionals in his industry”
“the Petitioner has not shown that the Beneficiary's proposed endeavor stands to sufficiently extend beyond his company and its clientele to impact the financial consulting field”

AAO decision text

How the evidence was treated

  • business plan · discounted
    “the plan did not elaborate on these projections or provide evidence supporting the need for these employees”
    AAO decision text
  • recommendation letter · discounted
    “the Beneficiary's skills, expertise, and abilities relate to the second prong of the Dhanasar framework”
    AAO decision text
  • contract revenue · discounted
    “neither the Petitioner nor the Beneficiary adequately explain how these sales forecasts were calculated”
    AAO decision text
  • other · discounted
    “merely working in an important field is insufficient to establish the national importance of the proposed endeavor”
    AAO decision text
  • motion resubmission · discounted
    “these decisions do not bind USCIS officers in future adjudications”
    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
  • 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
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Notable

Petitioner argued the Director applied a 'higher standard of proof'; AAO rejected this and also declined to address Petitioner's argument that 20 C.F.R. 656.3 makes it legally impossible for a business owner to self-file a labor certification, reserving that issue as unnecessary to the disposition. Petitioner also cited two unpublished EB-1 extraordinary ability decisions as persuasive, which AAO distinguished as non-binding and inapplicable to EB-2.

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. 103.3(c)
  • Flores v. Garland
  • Matter of Caron Int'l
  • Matter of E-M-
  • Matter of L-A-C-

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