NIW Bearings
dismissedSEP192024_10B52032024-09-19 · 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 establish a management consulting, advisory, and training office in Florida focused on serving law firms and business consulting companies, offering training in organizational design and operations management.

Field: management consulting · Read the decision (uscis.gov)

Prong 1 — national importancenot established · dispositive

“A local physical therapy business and a shortage of physical therapists in the United States does not render the proposed endeavor nationally important under the Dhanasar framework.”
“these projections are not supported by relevant or probative evidence”
“generalized conclusory statements that do not identify a specific impact to the field have little probative value”
“he has not demonstrated that his specific business - alone - would have national implications for the U.S. economy”
“the relevant question is not the importance of the industry or profession in which the individual will work”

AAO decision text

How the evidence was treated

  • business plan · discounted
    “these projections are not supported by relevant or probative evidence”
    AAO decision text
  • other · discounted
    “generalized conclusory statements that do not identify a specific impact to the field have little probative value”
    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
  • 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
  • Occupational shortage argument rejected · p1 — argues a labor shortage — the labor-certification question, not Dhanasar
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Notable

AAO uses a physical-therapy shortage analogy (seemingly borrowed from another case's facts) to illustrate that local business/occupational shortage does not establish national importance, despite the petitioner's endeavor being management consulting, not physical therapy.

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
  • Matter of L-A-C-

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