NIW Bearings
dismissedOCT192023_03B52032023-10-19 · appeal · Texas Service Center

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 proposed to start his own small business offering electronic document management (and at various points, consulting) services to small and medium-sized companies in a Florida area.

Field: electronic document management / business consulting services · Read the decision (uscis.gov)

EB-2 threshold — not met

AAO withdrew the Director's finding that Petitioner qualified as an advanced degree professional, finding discrepancies in education evaluations and insufficient evidence of a foreign equivalent to a U.S. baccalaureate degree; reserved the exceptional ability claim as unnecessary given the dispositive NIW denial.

Prong 1 — national importancenot established · dispositive

“Such a statement, without explanation as to why the expert believes that the proposed endeavor is of national importance, carries little evidentiary weight.”
“But it is the Petitioner's specific proposed endeavor that must be shown to be of national importance, not that of an industry, or an occupation across all industries.”
“We agree with the Director's conclusion that the record does not establish that the potential creation of three relatively unskilled jobs is sufficient to constitute a substantial positive economic effect.”
“Nor are the Petitioner's vague mentions of indirect job creation and revenue generation.”
“As the plan's revenue projections are based upon a company offering these services, as opposed to the electronic document management services briefly described...they are not relevant”

AAO decision text

How the evidence was treated

  • degree · discounted
    “we will not afford the educational evaluations any weight in determining the Petitioner's eligibility”
    AAO decision text
  • recommendation letter · discounted
    “Such a statement, without explanation as to why the expert believes that the proposed endeavor is of national importance, carries little evidentiary weight.”
    AAO decision text
  • business plan · discounted
    “they are not relevant in showing that the Petitioner's specific proposed endeavor would have a substantial positive economic effect”
    AAO decision text
  • resume experience · discounted
    “the discussion of the Petitioner's work experience is not relevant to his proposed endeavor's national importance”
    AAO decision text

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
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Notable

AAO withdrew the Director's favorable EB-2 classification finding (advanced degree) due to discrepancies among three conflicting educational evaluations from the same evaluator, using AACRAO EDGE database to independently assess foreign equivalency, but declined to reach the exceptional-ability alternative and both remaining Dhanasar prongs since prong 1 failure was dispositive.

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)
  • 8 C.F.R. 204.5(k)(3)(iii)
  • Matter of Ho
  • Matter of L-A-C-
  • Poursina v. USCIS

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