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 IT project manager who owned an IT consulting company in Brazil, intended to provide IT project-management services to small- and medium-sized U.S. businesses.
Field: information technology / IT project management · Read the decision (uscis.gov)
EB-2 threshold — not met
Petitioner sought classification as an individual of exceptional ability; AAO found he satisfied only two of the required three of six regulatory criteria (academic record and ten years' experience), failing the professional-association-membership and recognition-for-achievements criteria, and thus did not meet the initial exceptional-ability threshold.
How the evidence was treated
- degree · credited
- resume experience · credited
- certification membership · discounted
“Neither the PMI bylaws nor any other evidence in the record indicates that PMI membership requires the attainment of, at minimum, a baccalaureate degree”
AAO decision text - recommendation letter · discounted
“they do not reference any formal recognition of achievements or contributions to the IT industry”
AAO decision text
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Notable
The AAO partially credited the Petitioner on appeal, withdrawing the Director's finding on the ten-years-experience criterion after crediting secondary corroborating evidence, but the appeal still failed because the Petitioner met only two of the required three exceptional-ability criteria; the AAO expressly declined to reach the Dhanasar prongs as unnecessary given the dispositive threshold failure.
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
- Matter of L-A-C-
- Matter of O-R-E-
- Matter of R-A-M-
- Poursina v. USCIS
- USCIS Policy Manual F.5(B)(2)
Cases in adjacent profiles
- The Petitioner proposed to work as an IT consultant in the United States, providing cybersecurity and digital transforma
- The petitioner proposed to establish his own company providing specialized business consultancy, auditing, and training
- The petitioner proposed to work as a consultant engineer through his own company, specializing in development projects t
- The Petitioner proposed to start a project management consultancy in the United States that would help small and mid-siz
- The Petitioner proposed to establish a legal consultancy in the United States focused on alternative dispute resolution