NIW Bearings
dismissedMAR202025_07B52032025-03-20 · appeal · Nebraska 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 planned to serve as CEO of his own company providing trade marketing and ecommerce consulting services primarily to small and growing businesses in the United States.

Field: trade marketing and ecommerce consulting · Read the decision (uscis.gov)

EB-2 threshold — addressed

The Director found, and the AAO agreed, that the Petitioner qualifies for the underlying EB-2 classification as an advanced degree professional based on his master's degree equivalency.

Prong 1 — national importancenot established · dispositive

“the evidence does not establish that it would have significant potential to employ U.S. workers, have substantial positive economic impact in this country”
“these figures, which he claims represent potentially significant economic growth and impact, lack corroborating evidence that would objectively substantiate them”
“The remaining recommendation and expert letters lack assertions based on independent evidence specifically relevant to the claimed national significance of the proposed endeavor”
“they lack detail as to how such statement of intent would generate actual economic impact and do not speak to the specific proposed endeavor”
“the importance of a proposed endeavor is determined by its specific potential prospective impact, not by the occupation or industry, in which he proposes to engage”
“the evidence also does not show how a small company located in Tennessee, with his stated business activities and earnings, indicates national economic significance”

AAO decision text

How the evidence was treated

  • business plan · discounted
    “these figures, which he claims represent potentially significant economic growth and impact, lack corroborating evidence that would objectively substantiate them”
    AAO decision text
  • recommendation letter · discounted
    “The remaining recommendation and expert letters lack assertions based on independent evidence specifically relevant to the claimed national significance”
    AAO decision text
  • resume experience · discounted
    “the referenced evidence and assertions focus on his skills and profession relevant to Dhanasar's second prong”
    AAO decision text
  • other · discounted
    “the industry reports and articles provide general information on the importance of the industry and small to medium sized businesses, rather than relate specifically to his proposed work”
    AAO decision text
  • contract revenue · discounted
    “they lack detail as to how such statement of intent would generate actual economic impact”
    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
  • Letters conclusory · p1 — letters praise skills in general terms without tracing specific impact
  • Letters not independent · p1 — letters come from employers and close collaborators, not independent experts
  • Local, not national scope · p1 — impact confined to clients / a region
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Notable

AAO expressly withdrew the Director's inconsistent finding that the endeavor lacked substantial merit, agreeing instead that it had merit, but still found no national importance; it also declined to reach prong 3 or to review the Director's favorable prong 2 finding, citing INS v. Bagamasbad.

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.

  • Flores v. Garland

What this case teaches

Analyst reading of the decision text.

Decisive factor

Evidence (business plan, letters, industry reports) addressed petitioner's qualifications and general industry importance, not the specific endeavor's national-scale impact; projections were uncorroborated.

Transferable lesson

Support national importance claims with endeavor-specific, corroborated evidence of scale (jobs, revenue, industry adoption)—not general industry reports or personal qualifications.

Endeavor framing

moderate

National-importance theory

economic_job_creation · economic_growth_generic · field_advancement

Evidence targeting

person_focused

Cases in adjacent profiles

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