NIW Bearings
dismissedSEP132023_08B52032023-09-13 · 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 sought to work as a health education specialist and chief financial officer of her own new U.S. business providing health, safety, and environmental consulting and training services to improve workplace safety and reduce work-related injuries.

Field: health education / workplace health and safety consulting · Read the decision (uscis.gov)

EB-2 threshold — addressed

Director found, and AAO did not disturb, that Petitioner qualified as an advanced degree professional based on foreign bachelor's equivalent plus five years' progressive experience.

Prong 1 — national importancenot established · dispositive

“the record did not establish her proposed endeavor has the potential to extend beyond her business and her clients "to impact her field of endeavor at a level sufficient commensurate with national importance."”
“The Petitioner has not provided corroborating evidence to support her claims that her business' activities stand to provide substantial economic and health benefits to Florida or the United States.”
“working in the health education field or starting a workplace health and safety solutions business is insufficient to establish the national importance of the proposed endeavor.”
“the record does not sufficiently detail the basis for its financial and staffing projections, or adequately explain how these projections will be realized.”
“the Petitioner did not offer a sufficiently direct evidentiary tie between her proposed business' workplace health and safety solutions work and the claimed economic and healthcare results.”

AAO decision text

How the evidence was treated

  • business plan · discounted
    “The Petitioner has not provided corroborating evidence to support her claims that her business' activities stand to provide substantial economic and health benefits”
    AAO decision text
  • recommendation letter · discounted
    “the opinion focuses on the importance of physical education and how the Petitioner's experience... would be beneficial to the United States”
    AAO decision text
  • media · discounted
    “The industry reports and articles submitted do not discuss any projected U.S. economic impact, job creation or healthcare benefits specifically attributable to the Petitioner's proposed endeavor.”
    AAO decision text
  • resume experience · discounted
    “Her academic credentials, professional experience, and achievements relate to the second prong of the Dhanasar framework”
    AAO decision text
  • degree · credited

Where this case turned

  • Economic claims unsupported · p1 — job/revenue projections with no corroborating basis
  • Field importance conflated with endeavor · p1 — argues the field matters, not the specific endeavor
  • Local, not national scope · p1 — impact confined to clients / a region
2,501coded decisions carry the failure named in this record. A placement shows where your profile sits among them, not what it predicts.See where your profile sits — 90 seconds →

Notable

AAO explicitly rejected the Petitioner's attempt to use professional experience/credentials to establish national importance under prong 1, clarifying that such evidence belongs to the prong 2 analysis; AAO declined to reach prongs 2 and 3 as unnecessary.

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
  • INA 203(b)(2)
  • Matter of E-M-
  • Matter of L-A-C-
  • Poursina v. USCIS

Cases in adjacent profiles

← Back to the case explorer