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 establish and lead an IT consulting business in the United States aimed at helping small- and medium-sized businesses improve productivity and profits.
Field: information technology consulting · Read the decision (uscis.gov)
EB-2 threshold — addressed
AAO agreed the petitioner qualified as an advanced degree professional based on a bachelor's degree equivalency plus five years of progressive IT experience.
Prong 1 — national importancenot established · dispositive
“The Petitioner has not explained how his business's estimated generation of about $2.9 million in revenues and its employment of 25 people would substantially boost the national economy.”
“his employment and revenue projections do not indicate that his venture would have the size or scope to substantially affect the national economy.”
“the record does not establish that the business would affect the IT field or the national economy "more broadly."”
AAO decision text
How the evidence was treated
- business plan · discounted
“his employment and revenue projections do not indicate that his venture would have the size or scope to substantially affect the national economy”
AAO decision text - degree · credited
- resume experience · credited
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
- Local, not national scope · p1 — impact confined to clients / a region
Notable
The AAO explicitly analogized the case to Dhanasar's own STEM-teaching example, finding the petitioner's consultancy similarly lacked broader field impact; it expressly reserved the well-positioned and balancing prongs as unnecessary once national importance failed.
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. 204.5(k)(2)
- Matter of L-A-C-
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