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 database engineer with over 20 years of IT experience, proposed to work as a freelance database engineer for a freelancing portal while also founding and leading an online school offering courses in database administration and business intelligence.
Field: database engineering / IT · Read the decision (uscis.gov)
EB-2 threshold — addressed
Director and AAO agreed Petitioner qualified as an advanced-degree professional based on his MBA; only the national interest waiver prongs were at issue.
Prong 1 — national importancenot established
“the Petitioner's activities as a freelance database engineer would provide benefits to himself and his employer, but would not have national or global implications within the IT or business field”
“the record does not include evidence of the significance of his specific proposed work as a database engineer in terms of revenue or job creation”
“a school or business does not have national importance simply by virtue of its availability on the internet”
“he has not shown that his specific proposed activities as the founder and leader of an online school would impact either STEM education or the workforce more broadly”
AAO decision text
Prong 2 — well positionednot established
“the record does not include evidence of interest from investors or potential clients, two types of evidence specifically identified in the USCIS Policy Manual as important”
“this evidence does not show sufficient progress towards achieving this proposed endeavor”
“the lack of evidence of sufficient fonding, progress and potential clients offset the Petitioner's experience as an IT professional and entrepreneur”
AAO decision text
Prong 3 — balance of factorsnot established
“a labor shortage in the Petitioner's field alone does not tilt the balance between protection of the domestic labor force and any national interest in his proposed endeavor in his favor”
“he has not shown that the reports and articles he submitted focus on a national urgency in the employment of database engineers or vocational training”
“since he has not shown that his proposed endeavor would be of national importance, or that he is well positioned to advance his proposal for an online school, we conclude that it would not be in the national interest”
AAO decision text
How the evidence was treated
- recommendation letter · credited
- business plan · discounted
“this evidence does not show sufficient progress towards achieving this proposed endeavor”
AAO decision text - contract revenue · credited
- funding · discounted
“the record does not include evidence of interest from investors or potential clients”
AAO decision text - other · discounted
“the record does not include evidence of the significance of his specific proposed work as a database engineer in terms of revenue or job creation”
AAO decision text
Where this case turned
- Economic claims unsupported · p1 — job/revenue projections with no corroborating basis
- Employer-specific benefit · p1 — "work furthers my company's product" — value accrues to one firm
- Local, not national scope · p1 — impact confined to clients / a region
- Business plan speculative · p2 — projections without a documented basis or steps
- Funding absent · p2 — no documented funding or resources behind the plan
- No progress evidence · p2 — no documented movement toward the endeavor since filing
- Derivative of Prong 1/2 failure · p3 — prong three fails only because prongs one or two did — no independent ground
- Occupational shortage argument rejected · p3 — argues a labor shortage — the labor-certification question, not Dhanasar
- U.S. worker availability · p3 — the impracticality of a labour-market test was asserted, not established
Notable
AAO sided with the Petitioner on a procedural point, finding that his RFE-stage business plan and detailed statement about the online school did not constitute an impermissible material change (distinguishing Matter of Katigbak/Izummi), yet still found the endeavor failed on the merits. A footnote clarifies that Dhanasar vacated the prior NYSDOT framework, though NYSDOT itself was not applied here.
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. 103.2(b)(1)
- 8 C.F.R. 204.5(k)(2)
- Matter of Izummi
- Matter of Katigbak
What this case teaches
Analyst reading of the decision text.
Petitioner failed to show either the freelance work or the online school would have impact beyond himself, his clients, or his students, so national importance under prong 1 was unmet.
Support broad claims of national impact with quantified data (revenue, jobs, client/investor interest, student reach) rather than assertions of online availability or general labor shortages.
moderate
economic_job_creation · field_advancement · geographic_or_shortage_area
person_focused
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