NIW Bearings
dismissedMAR202026_01B52032026-03-20 · appeal · SCOPS 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, an accountant, proposed to start a business in Texas offering educational services on debt settlement and budgeting—including in-person and online classes and personal finance guidance—to help financially vulnerable families improve their financial stability.

Field: accounting / financial literacy education · Read the decision (uscis.gov)

EB-2 threshold — addressed

AAO noted credibility concerns with the foreign credential evaluation (Indian MBA comparable to a U.S. bachelor's per EDGE), but reserved the EB-2 classification issue for future proceedings because the Petitioner had not received prior notice to address it. SCOPS had found the Petitioner qualified; AAO neither affirmed nor denied.

Prong 1 — national importancenot established · dispositive

“the plan presents an overview of services the business would provide and the field in which it would operate, it does not describe a specific endeavor that the Petitioner will undertake”
“the record does not contain documentation describing a specific educational program, model, or approach that the Petitioner will use”
“the Petitioner's proposed endeavor is rendered in equivocal descriptions of a general objective to address financial literacy deficiencies through education”
“It is not the proverbial value of the field in which an individual intends to work, but the particular endeavor an individual intends to pursue”
“It is not clear, however, what sources or reasoning were used to estimate future tax revenue figures or the number of households”

AAO decision text

Prong 2 — well positionednot established

“Because the Petitioner has not provided evidence of a comprehensive endeavor, we are unable to determine whether he meets the requirements of Dhanasar's second prong.”
“For the sake of brevity, we will not discuss other deficiencies in the record regarding the Petitioner's eligibility under Dhanasar's second prong.”

AAO decision text

How the evidence was treated

  • business plan · discounted
    “it does not describe a specific endeavor that the Petitioner will undertake through the operation of a business”
    AAO decision text
  • recommendation letter · discounted
    “they do not offer insight into specific aspects of services to be offered by his business”
    AAO decision text
  • other · discounted
    “the report does not remark on any specific element of the Petitioner's endeavor or identify the interventions to which his educational system was compared”
    AAO decision text
  • other · discounted
    “The use of language resembling or repeating the generalized descriptions of the Petitioner's endeavor found throughout the record does not suggest a full understanding”
    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
  • Endeavor too vague · p1 — described as a job role, not a defined undertaking
  • Field importance conflated with endeavor · p1 — argues the field matters, not the specific endeavor
  • Business plan speculative · p2 — projections without a documented basis or steps
  • No progress evidence · p2 — no documented movement toward the endeavor since filing
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Notable

AAO reserved the EB-2 threshold classification issue (credibility of Indian MBA credential evaluation contradicted by AACRAO EDGE database) for future proceedings rather than deciding it, because the Petitioner had no prior notice to respond. SCOPS had found both prong 1 (substantial merit) and prong 2 (well-positioned) satisfied but denied on national importance and prong 3; AAO reversed on prong 1, finding the endeavor too vague to evaluate at all, and declined to reach prong 3. The economic impact report's projections were found to lack any identifiable methodology or connection to a specific program, and the Texas state representative's endorsement letter was discounted for mirroring the same unsupported projections from the business plan.

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