NIW Bearings
remandedSEP172024_03B52032024-09-17 · motion_reconsider · 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, a speech therapist, sought to work in the United States and requested a national interest waiver of the job offer/labor certification requirement.

Field: speech therapy · Read the decision (uscis.gov)

EB-2 threshold — addressed

Director found Petitioner qualified for EB-2 classification as an advanced degree professional; this was not disputed on appeal.

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Notable

This decision does not reach the merits of the NIW petition at all. The dispute concerns a purely procedural issue: whether the Director erred in dismissing the Petitioner's motion to reopen/reconsider as untimely, given COVID-19 filing flexibilities extending the deadline to 90 days. The AAO agreed the motion was timely filed (59 days after the decision) and remanded for the Director to issue a full decision on the merits of the motion. No prong analysis occurred.

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

Director incorrectly deemed the motion untimely under COVID-19 filing flexibilities (90-day extension applied); AAO remanded for a merits decision on the motion.

Transferable lesson

When filing motions during periods covered by USCIS COVID-19 flexibility guidance, cite the specific policy alert and computed deadline to preserve appeal rights if wrongly deemed untimely.

Endeavor framing

vague

Evidence targeting

mixed

Cases in adjacent profiles