NIW Bearings
dismissedJUL102023_01B52032023-07-10 · 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 sought to develop, produce, and sell environmentally friendly cleaning and personal hygiene products through her own company in Florida.

Field: environmentally friendly cleaning and personal hygiene products · Read the decision (uscis.gov)

Prong 1 — national importancenot established · dispositive

“the Petitioner has not established her proposed endeavor sufficiently extends beyond the company and its clientele to impact the industry or the field more broadly”
“the Petitioner did not demonstrate how her proposed endeavor has significant potential to employ U.S. workers or otherwise offers substantial positive economic effects”
“the Director discussed the business plan's assertions of hiring and capital projections, including revised claims”

AAO decision text

How the evidence was treated

  • business plan · discounted
    “the reliability and credibility of the plan's figures”
    AAO decision text
  • resume experience · discounted
    “those relate to the second prong of the Dhanasar framework, which shifts the focus from the proposed endeavor to the foreign national”
    AAO decision text
  • other · discounted
    “the Petitioner's submission of industry articles and reports relates to the substantial merit of the proposed endeavor rather than the national importance”
    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
  • Local, not national scope · p1 — impact confined to clients / a region
1,312coded decisions carry the failure named in this record. A placement shows where your profile sits among them, not what it predicts.See where your profile sits — 90 seconds →

Notable

AAO adopted and affirmed the Director's decision under Matter of Burbano rather than conducting independent analysis; petitioner's experience/ability arguments were treated as prong-2 issues but not separately analyzed since prong 1 was dispositive.

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-
  • Poursina v. USCIS

What this case teaches

Analyst reading of the decision text.

Decisive factor

Petitioner failed to show the endeavor's impact extended beyond her own company/clientele to the industry or field, or that it would create significant U.S. jobs or economic effects nationally.

Transferable lesson

Substantiate national importance with credible, verifiable projections of broader industry/economic impact—not just personal credentials or unsupported business-plan figures.

Endeavor framing

vague

National-importance theory

economic_job_creation · economic_growth_generic

Evidence targeting

person_focused

Cases in adjacent profiles

← Back to the case explorer