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 marketing professional, initially proposed to work as a marketing consultant and later elaborated that she intended to operate her own marketing and advertising agency in Orlando, Florida.
Field: marketing · Read the decision (uscis.gov)
EB-2 threshold — not met
AAO withdrew the Director's finding that Petitioner was an advanced degree professional; she failed to show a graduate-level foreign degree or five years of progressive post-degree experience supported by qualifying employer letters. AAO reserved the exceptional-ability classification issue because prong one was dispositive.
Prong 1 — national importancenot established · dispositive
“the Petitioner did not provide the basis for her projections in her business plan or in the remaining record”
“an alleged shortage of occupations or occupational skills does not render a proposed endeavor nationally important under the Dhanasar framework”
“merely working in an important field is insufficient to establish the national importance of the Petitioner's proposed endeavor”
“the record does not demonstrate that, beyond the limited benefits provided to her prospective clients and employees, the proposed endeavor has broader implications”
AAO decision text
How the evidence was treated
- business plan · discounted
“the Petitioner did not provide the basis for her projections in her business plan or in the remaining record”
AAO decision text - recommendation letter · discounted
“the author relies on data from the business plan”
AAO decision text - resume experience · discounted
“the letter dated September 2022 from Mega Electronics ... does not have a specific description of the duties she performed”
AAO decision text - degree · discounted
“Such programs lead toward professional certificates, not graduate degrees”
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
Notable
AAO withdrew the Director's threshold finding (advanced degree professional not established due to insufficient progressive-experience evidence and a lato sensu certificate not counting as a graduate degree) but still dismissed on prong one, reserving the exceptional-ability and prongs two/three issues as unnecessary under Bagamasbad/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. 103.2(b)(1)
- 8 C.F.R. 103.3
- 8 C.F.R. 204.5(g)(1)
- 8 C.F.R. 204.5(k)(2)
- Flores v. Garland
- Matter of L-A-C-
What this case teaches
Analyst reading of the decision text.
The AAO went beyond the Director to strip her advanced-degree classification (lato sensu certificate, defective experience letters), then dismissed on prong 1: an expert letter echoing her own unsupported projections and shortage rhetoric could not show importance.
Classification is never safe on appeal: de novo review re-tests the degree itself; a lato sensu certificate is not a master's, and experience letters must specifically describe duties.
moderate
economic_job_creation · economic_growth_generic · geographic_or_shortage_area
person_focused
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