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, a Brazilian esthetician and micropigmentation/microblading specialist who ran her own aesthetic services business, sought to continue working in the U.S. in this field as an individual of exceptional ability with a national interest waiver.
Field: esthetics / cosmetic micropigmentation (skincare specialist) · Read the decision (uscis.gov)
EB-2 threshold — not met
Petitioner claimed exceptional ability (not advanced degree). AAO found she met only 2 of the required 3 of 6 regulatory criteria at 8 C.F.R. 204.5(k)(3)(ii): experience letters (B) and license (C) were credited, but academic record (A) and salary evidence (D) were rejected. Because only two criteria were met, the threshold exceptional-ability classification was not established, and this failure alone was dispositive.
How the evidence was treated
- degree · discounted
“the record does not show that they were received from an 'institution of learning' or that they are 'official academic record[s]'”
AAO decision text - resume experience · credited
- certification membership · credited
- other · discounted
“this evidence alone does not demonstrate how the Petitioner's earnings are indicative of her claimed exceptional ability relative to others in her field”
AAO decision text
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Notable
AAO reversed the Director on two of the six exceptional-ability criteria (experience letters and license) but still found the Petitioner fell one criterion short (2 of 3 required), making the threshold exceptional-ability determination dispositive. Because the threshold classification failed, the AAO expressly declined to reach the Dhanasar national-interest-waiver analysis at all, reserving that issue entirely.
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.
- Matter of L-A-C-
- Matter of R-A-M-
- USCIS Policy Manual F.5(B)(2)
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