NIW Bearings
remandedOCT172025_02B52032025-10-17 · appeal

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 electronics engineer with 28 years of telecommunications experience, proposed to develop and deploy an AI-driven Self-Organizing Network software solution (AI-DANI) through his own technology company to optimize mobile network efficiency, cybersecurity, and connectivity across the United States.

Field: electronics engineering / telecommunications · Read the decision (uscis.gov)

EB-2 threshold — addressed

AAO found the petitioner qualifies as an advanced degree professional based on a foreign bachelor's equivalent plus more than five years of progressive experience.

How the evidence was treated

  • business plan · ignored
  • recommendation letter · ignored
  • resume experience · credited
  • certification membership · credited

This record is one of thousands, each coded for the reasons it turned. A placement shows where your profile sits in that record, not what it predicts. See where your profile sits — 90 seconds

Notable

This is a rare procedural remand rather than a merits decision: SCOPS denied on the theory that the RFE response introduced a 'new proposed endeavor' materially changing the petition, without ever substantively analyzing the three Dhanasar prongs. The AAO found this material-change determination erroneous and remanded for SCOPS to conduct a full three-prong analysis in the first instance, expressing no opinion on ultimate eligibility. Because SCOPS never reached the merits of prongs 1-3, none are coded as analyzed here despite the endeavor and evidence being described at length.

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

What this case teaches

Analyst reading of the decision text.

Decisive factor

SCOPS wrongly treated RFE elaboration (naming the company and AI-DANI software) as a 'material change' to the proposed endeavor, then skipped Dhanasar analysis entirely, requiring remand for a reasoned merits decision.

Transferable lesson

When responding to an RFE, explicitly tie added specifics (product names, technical mechanisms) back to the initial filing's stated endeavor to preclude a 'material change' finding that derails merits review.

Endeavor framing

moderate

National-importance theory

critical_emerging_tech · national_security · geographic_or_shortage_area · us_competitiveness

Evidence targeting

mixed

Cases in adjacent profiles