NIW Bearings
dismissedMAY132024_06B52032024-05-13 · 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, an entrepreneur, proposed to found, own, and operate a construction management consulting and home-improvement/architectural firm based in Maryland, with plans to expand nationally and hire additional employees over five years.

Field: construction management / architectural services · Read the decision (uscis.gov)

EB-2 threshold — addressed

Director found, and AAO did not disturb, that Petitioner qualified as an advanced-degree professional.

Prong 1 — national importancenot established · dispositive

“The focus is on "the specific endeavor that the foreign national proposes to undertake."”
“did not reflect how national importance was implicated by the Petitioner's proposed endeavor because the letters focused on the Petitioner's work, skill, and knowledge”
“the same evidence does not adequately describe how the Petitioner's specific proposed endeavor demonstrates it has national or even global implications in the particular field”
“it is not clear from the record how this job creation for the proposed endeavor itself would have a substantial prospective positive economic effect commensurate with national importance”
“We are unconvinced that an endeavor would implicate matters nationally, globally, or broadly have potential prospective impact or positive economic effects simply because the owner is a non-citizen”
“the record does not adequately account for how their principal place of business in a residential address would absorb their anticipated increase in headcount”

AAO decision text

How the evidence was treated

  • business plan · discounted
    “these aspirations did not demonstrate the national importance of the endeavor”
    AAO decision text
  • recommendation letter · discounted
    “the letters focused on the Petitioner's work, skill, and knowledge”
    AAO decision text
  • resume experience · discounted
    “The Dhanasar framework is consequently unconcerned with the likelihood of the success of the proposed endeavor”
    AAO decision text
  • certification membership · discounted
    “these do not illuminate the national importance of the Petitioner's endeavor”
    AAO decision text
  • other · discounted
    “the same evidence does not adequately describe how the Petitioner's specific proposed endeavor demonstrates it has national or even global implications”
    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
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Notable

AAO engages in an unusually detailed rejection of Petitioner's HUBZone-adjacency argument, explaining SBA HUBZone ownership/eligibility requirements to show the argument was legally irrelevant to national importance.

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
  • Flores v. Garland
  • Matter of L-A-C-
  • Matter of Y-B-

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