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 business intelligence analyst with two master's degrees and over a decade of IT experience, proposed to work as an entrepreneur developing an information technology consulting firm in the United States.
Field: information technology / business intelligence consulting · Read the decision (uscis.gov)
Prong 1 — national importancenot established · dispositive
“counsel crafted an appeal brief that essentially duplicates the June 9, 2023 cover letter they provided in response to the Director's RFE”
“The absence of any error attributable to the Director's denial means the Petitioner has abandoned or waived her first prong claims”
“the Petitioner has not sufficiently established her proposed endeavor's national importance as Dhanasar's first prong requires”
AAO decision text
Where this case turned
- NEW appeal brief duplicative of rfe response · p1
- NEW no error identified waived · p1
Notable
The AAO's dismissal turned almost entirely on procedural grounds: the appeal brief was found to be a near-verbatim duplicate of the RFE response, failing to identify any error in the Director's decision, and was treated as waived/abandoned under Matter of Garcia and related BIA precedent. The AAO also 'adopted and affirmed' the Director's national-importance analysis under Matter of Burbano rather than independently reassessing the merits. It noted with unusual sharpness that counsel's opening paragraph made unsupported 'extravagant allegations' of due process and constitutional/international-treaty violations without any supporting analysis. Prongs two and three were expressly reserved and not addressed.
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
- Matter of O-S-G-
- Matter of R-A-M-
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