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 nurse, sought to operate her own company in Florida providing courses, seminars, webinars, and training on infection disease control to hospitals, clinics, nursing homes, and other health-related facilities.
Field: infection prevention and control / nursing education · Read the decision (uscis.gov)
EB-2 threshold — addressed
Director found Petitioner did not qualify as advanced degree professional, but AAO withdrew this finding on appeal, concluding she established a bachelor's degree equivalent plus five years of progressive post-baccalaureate experience.
Prong 1 — national importancenot established · dispositive
“Instead of discussing the details of the Petitioner's proposed endeavor and any unique methodologies in the infection control and prevention, the evidence supporting the national importance largely consisted of general articles and reports”
“these articles and reports do not provide any specific information about the Petitioner's proposed endeavor and are insufficient to establish national importance of the endeavor”
“the business plan does not provide sufficient detail of the basis for these projections, including the multiplier evidence itself, or adequately explain how these staffing and tax collection targets will be realized”
“the Petitioner's claims of economic benefits are not supported by corroborating and independent evidence”
“Generalized conclusory statements that do not identify a specific impact in the field have little probative value.”
AAO decision text
How the evidence was treated
- business plan · discounted
“does not provide sufficient detail of the basis for these projections, including the multiplier evidence itself”
AAO decision text - recommendation letter · discounted
“do not discuss the Petitioner's proposed endeavor or its broad impact on the industry”
AAO decision text - other · discounted
“do not provide any specific information about the Petitioner's proposed endeavor and are insufficient to establish national importance”
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
- 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
- Letters conclusory · p1 — letters praise skills in general terms without tracing specific impact
Notable
AAO withdrew the Director's threshold EB-2 finding regarding 'Lato Sensu' degrees and progressive experience, but still dismissed the appeal on prong 1 national importance grounds; AAO also separately rejected Petitioner's ancillary claim that AACRAO EDGE credential evaluation was 'groundless' in a footnote.
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
- 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.
Petitioner failed to show national importance: evidence was generic field-level articles and unsupported business projections, not tied to her specific endeavor's methodology or scaled impact.
Support economic/job-creation projections with credible methodology and independent evidence, and tie expert letters directly to the endeavor's specific, scalable impact beyond personal clientele.
moderate
public_health · economic_job_creation · government_interest · stem_positive_factor
person_focused
Cases in adjacent profiles
- The Beneficiary proposed to establish an asset investment management and compliance advisory firm in New York offering c
- The Petitioner proposed to develop and commercialize zeolite-based products in the United States, including agricultural
- The Petitioner proposed to operate a medical billing and healthcare revenue cycle management firm in the United States,
- The Petitioner proposed to establish and lead as CEO a cybersecurity and crisis management company in Florida, offering
- The Petitioner proposed to establish and operate an IT consultancy company in Michigan providing cloud migration, cybers