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 and operate an IT consultancy company in Michigan providing cloud migration, cybersecurity, and infrastructure modernization services to small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in sectors such as healthcare, legal services, education, and local government.
Field: information technology / IT consulting · Read the decision (uscis.gov)
EB-2 threshold — addressed
SCOPS found and AAO confirmed the Petitioner qualifies as a professional holding an advanced degree via a bachelor's degree in computer information systems plus more than five years of progressive experience.
Prong 1 — national importancenot established · dispositive
“it is not the overall importance of the industry, field, or profession in which an individual intends to work, but the particular endeavor on which an individual intends to embark.”
“the shortage of an occupation does not render a proposed endeavor nationally important under the Dhanasar framework.”
“The business plan presumes collaborations without the support of a plausible plan to facilitate them and utilizing resources without a course of action to access them.”
“the business plan does not explain how these figures were calculated or adequately clarify how the projections will be realized.”
“It is not clear how a business of the size and scope described in the business plan would have national or global implications.”
“the Petitioner has not explained how his proposed endeavor to offer consultancy services would have a broader impact beyond the clients utilizing those services.”
AAO decision text
How the evidence was treated
- recommendation letter · discounted
“letters of recommendation from individuals familiar with the Petitioner's work who attest to his previous employment and his technical skills as an employee”
AAO decision text - business plan · discounted
“The business plan presumes collaborations without the support of a plausible plan to facilitate them and utilizing resources without a course of action to access them.”
AAO decision text - other · discounted
“it does not illustrate how the Petitioner's endeavor to offer consulting services to SMEs would impact the field of cybersecurity or the modernization of IT infrastructure for SMEs more broadly.”
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
Notable
SCOPS had already conceded substantial merit of the endeavor, so the AAO's analysis was limited to national importance within prong 1. The AAO explicitly imported prong 2 credibility concerns (speculative business plan, unsubstantiated collaborations) into the prong 1 national-importance analysis, noting that 'considerations concerning an individual's plan to pursue an endeavor are related to Dhanasar's second prong, they are relevant to evaluating an endeavor's national importance.' The petitioner's degree is a bachelor's plus experience qualifying under the advanced-degree track, not a graduate degree.
What this case teaches
Analyst reading of the decision text.
Petitioner failed to show national importance: business plan was speculative, lacked a credible execution plan, and did not substantiate claimed economic/employment impact beyond individual clients.
Support projected economic/employment impact with methodology and independent evidence tying the specific endeavor—not the industry generally—to a nationally or regionally significant scale.
moderate
economic_job_creation · public_health · geographic_or_shortage_area · critical_emerging_tech
person_focused
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