dismissedSEP172024_09B52032024-09-17 · 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 own and operate an IT infrastructure and database consulting and outsourcing services firm providing server administration, data backup/recovery, help desk, cloud support, and network design outsourcing, with operations planned in Massachusetts, Illinois, and North Carolina.
Field: IT infrastructure and database consulting/outsourcing services · Read the decision (uscis.gov)
EB-2 threshold — addressed
Director found and AAO agreed Petitioner qualified for EB-2 classification as an advanced degree professional based on a master's equivalent in physics.
Prong 1 — national importancenot established · dispositive
“The Petitioner's business plan does not demonstrate that his company will have substantial positive economic effects in the IT consulting industry.”
“The full- and part-time employment of eight to 24 people does not demonstrate significant potential to employ United States workers in an industry that employs three million people.”
“The Petitioner did not submit evidence of the specific aspects of these initiatives that the Petitioner's proposed endeavor would support and how that support would extend beyond his company's individual clients to impact his field more broadly.”
“These letters attest to the Petitioner's professional accomplishments and skills and express confidence in his ability to succeed in the United States, but they do not address the potential prospective impact of his specific proposed endeavor.”
“our assessment of national importance does not focus on the importance of issues affecting an industry or our nation in general, but "focuses on the specific endeavor that the foreign national proposes to undertake."”
“Here, none of the articles mention the Petitioner or discuss his proposed endeavor and its potential prospective impact.”
“the record does not show that the Petitioner's proposed endeavor stands to sufficiently extend beyond his company's clients to impact his field more broadly in a manner indicative of national importance.”
AAO decision text
How the evidence was treated
- business plan · discounted
“does not demonstrate that his company will have substantial positive economic effects in the IT consulting industry”
AAO decision text - recommendation letter · discounted
“do not address the potential prospective impact of his specific proposed endeavor”
AAO decision text - recommendation letter · discounted
“does not specify how the Petitioner's work would extend beyond his company's clients to support these government initiatives”
AAO decision text - media · discounted
“none of the articles mention the Petitioner or discuss his proposed endeavor and its potential prospective impact”
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
- Letters conclusory · p1 — letters praise skills in general terms without tracing specific impact
- Local, not national scope · p1 — impact confined to clients / a region
- Occupational shortage argument rejected · p1 — argues a labor shortage — the labor-certification question, not Dhanasar
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Notable
The AAO relied heavily on quantitative comparison between the petitioner's projected small-firm metrics (8-24 employees, $9.43M revenue) and total industry-wide figures ($665.9 billion revenue, 3 million employees, $285.2 billion wages) to reject the economic impact argument as insufficiently significant by scale.
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
- Flores v. Garland
- Matter of L-A-C-
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