NIW Bearings
dismissedMAR122025_08B52032025-03-12 · 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 Petitioner sought to found and serve as CEO of a company offering consultancy on corporate reputation, spokesperson positioning, and brand building for CEOs and companies, aiming to 'humanize' the relationship between companies, brands, consumers, and investors across the US.

Field: corporate communications/branding consultancy · Read the decision (uscis.gov)

Prong 1 — national importancenot established · dispositive

“merely working in an important field is insufficient to establish the national importance of the proposed endeavor”
“she has not sufficiently demonstrated her endeavor will extend beyond her company's clients' interests in a manner that has national or global impact”
“the Petitioner has not submitted sufficient supporting evidence corroborating these projected employment and financial figures”
“she has not sufficiently demonstrated her proposed endeavor has significant potential to employ U.S. workers or otherwise offer substantial positive economic effects beyond her company and clients”

AAO decision text

How the evidence was treated

  • business plan · discounted
    “the Petitioner has not submitted sufficient supporting evidence corroborating these projected employment and financial figures”
    AAO decision text

Where this case turned

  • 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
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Notable

AAO cites Flores v. Garland (5th Cir. 2023) regarding the discretionary nature of NIW decisions, joining other circuits; the Director had actually found substantial merit met but national importance not met, and AAO agreed only on the national importance failure, declining to reach prongs 2 and 3 despite the Director having ruled against Petitioner on all three.

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
  • Matter of L-A-C-

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