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 develop a financial and marketing integrated model incorporating the effects of company capital, marketing initiatives, and customer relations on small business performance, aiming to offer novel insights on business performance assessment and contribute to economic development.
Field: business administration / marketing and finance · Read the decision (uscis.gov)
How the evidence was treated
- other · discounted
“new claims or new material that greatly differs from that previously presented without a sufficient explanation, will not carry sufficient evidentiary weight to meet their burden of proof.”
AAO decision text - motion resubmission · discounted
“the basis for the Petitioner's eligibility claim changed to such an extent between the initial filing and his RFE response, we conclude that he made a material change to the petition.”
AAO decision text
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Notable
The AAO dismissed the appeal on the threshold ground that the Petitioner made a material change to his proposed endeavor between the initial filing and the RFE response — expanding from a single integrated financial/marketing model to multiple unrelated research areas and advisory work for U.S. agencies on Ethiopian businesses — without adequate explanation. Because the endeavor itself was indeterminate, the AAO declined to reach any of the three Dhanasar prongs, treating the material-change finding as an independent and alternative basis for dismissal. The AAO also noted that the Petitioner currently works as a customer relationship staff member at a property management company, which appeared inconsistent with the claimed research endeavor. None of the three NIW prongs were substantively analyzed.
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.
- Section 291 of the Act
What this case teaches
Analyst reading of the decision text.
Petitioner materially changed the proposed endeavor between initial filing and RFE response, preventing identification of a single, stable endeavor to evaluate under Dhanasar's three prongs.
Define the proposed endeavor precisely at filing and keep it consistent throughout adjudication; do not expand or alter it in RFE responses to cure deficiencies.
vague
economic_growth_generic
person_focused
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