NIW Bearings
dismissedOCT292021_02B52032021-10-29 · appeal · Nebraska 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, a Brazilian agribusiness professional, proposed to start a Florida-based company combining a recycling business with farm consulting services, later described inconsistently as also selling eco-friendly cleaning and hygiene products.

Field: agribusiness / recycling · Read the decision (uscis.gov)

EB-2 threshold — addressed

AAO found the evaluator's academic equivalency opinion of little probative value but independently used the AACRAO EDGE database to confirm the Petitioner's foreign degrees are equivalent to a U.S. bachelor's and master's degree, concluding she qualifies as an advanced degree professional.

Prong 1 — national importancenot established · dispositive

“We conclude that the Petitioner has not identified her specific endeavor.”
“the Petitioner's business plan did not include proposed activities related to recycling as was stated elsewhere in the RFE response”
“the record does not contain sufficient evidence to substantiate them”
“Generalized conclusory statements that do not identify a specific impact in the field have little probative value.”
“without further corroborating evidence to substantiate such claims, we question the accuracy of them and whether the letters were independently written”

AAO decision text

How the evidence was treated

  • degree · credited
  • business plan · discounted
    “the Petitioner's business plan that involves creating and selling environmentally friendly soaps and detergents”
    AAO decision text
  • recommendation letter · discounted
    “Generalized conclusory statements that do not identify a specific impact in the field have little probative value.”
    AAO decision text
  • other · discounted
    “as these articles do not discuss or address the proposed endeavor, they offer little to this analysis”
    AAO decision text
  • other · discounted
    “his opinion is of little probative value in the analysis of the Petitioner's eligibility under the first prong”
    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
  • Letters conclusory · p1 — letters praise skills in general terms without tracing specific impact
  • Letters not independent · p1 — letters come from employers and close collaborators, not independent experts
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Notable

AAO discounted the Petitioner's foreign-degree equivalency evaluation as templated and unpersuasive, yet independently consulted the AACRAO EDGE database to find equivalency anyway, allowing the Petitioner to meet the underlying EB-2 classification despite an evidentiary shortcoming the AAO flagged for future filings. The decision also highlights an internal inconsistency between the Petitioner's stated endeavor (recycling/farm consulting) and her submitted business plan (eco-friendly soap and detergent manufacturing), which the Petitioner failed to reconcile on appeal.

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. 204.5(k)(2)
  • 8 C.F.R. 204.5(k)(3)(ii)
  • INA 203(b)(2)
  • INA 291
  • Matter of V-K-
  • Poursina v. USCIS

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