dismissed EB-2 NIW Case: Asset And Project Management

U.S. Citizenship 
and Immigration 
Services 
Non-Precedent Decision of the
Administrative Appeals Office 
Date: MAY 31, 2024 In Re: 30627427 
Appeal of Texas Service Center Decision 
Form 1-140, Immigrant Petition for Alien Workers (National Interest Waiver) 
The Petitioner seeks employment-based second preference (EB-2) immigrant classification as an 
individual of exceptional ability, as well as a national interest waiver of the job offer requirement 
attached to this classification. See Immigration and Nationality Act (the Act) section 203(b )(2), 8 
U.S.C. § 1153(b )(2). 
The Director of the Texas Service Center denied the petition, concluding that the Petitioner did not 
establish his eligibility for EB-2 classification, or that a waiver of the required job offer, and thus of 
the labor certification, would be in the national interest. The matter is now before us on appeal 
pursuant to 8 C.F.R. § 103.3. 
The Petitioner bears the burden of proof to demonstrate eligibility by a preponderance of the evidence. 
Matter ofChawathe, 25 I&N Dec. 369, 375-76 (AAO 2010). We review the questions in this matter 
de novo. Matter of Christo 's, Inc., 26 l&N Dec. 537, 537 n.2 (AAO 2015). Upon de novo review, 
we will dismiss the appeal. 
I. LAW 
To establish eligibility for a national interest waiver, a petitioner must first demonstrate qualification 
for the underlying EB-2 visa classification as either an advanced degree professional or an individual 
of exceptional ability in the sciences, arts, or business. Section 203(b )(2)(B)(i) of the Act. An 
advanced degree is any U.S. academic or professional degree or a foreign equivalent degree above 
that of a bachelor's degree. 1 8 C.F.R. § 204.5(k)(2). A U.S. bachelor's degree or a foreign equivalent 
degree followed by five years of progressive experience in the specialty is the equivalent of a master's 
degree. Id. 
Once a petitioner demonstrates eligibility for the underlying classification, the petitioner must then 
establish eligibility for a discretionary waiver of the job offer requirement "in the national interest." 
Section 203(b )(2)(B)(i) of the Act. While neither the statute nor the pertinent regulations define the 
term "national interest," Matter ofDhanasar, 26 I&N Dec. 884 (AAO 2016), provides the framework 
1 Profession shall include, but not be limited to, architects, engineers, lawyers, physicians, surgeons, and teachers in 
elementary or secondary schools, colleges, academics, or seminaries. Section 101 ( a)(32) of the Act. 
for adjudicating national interest waiver pet1t10ns. Dhanasar states that U.S. Citizenship and 
Immigration Services (USCIS) may, as a matter of discretion, 2 grant a national interest waiver if the 
petitioner demonstrates that: 
• The proposed endeavor has both substantial merit and national importance; 
• The individual is well-positioned to advance their proposed endeavor; and 
• On balance, waiving the job offer requirement would benefit the United States. 
Id. at 889. 
II. ANALYSIS 
A. EB-2 Classification 
The Director concluded the Petitioner did not establish his eligibility for EB-2 classification as an 
advanced degree professional because the work experience letters he provided did not list the duties 
he performed, thus, it could not be determined if his post-graduate work experience is sufficient to 
qualify under 8 C.F.R. § 204.5(k)(2). Because we are dismissing this appeal on the dispositive issue 
explained below, we reserve our review of the Director's conclusion regarding the Petitioner's 
eligibility for EB-2 classification and the Petitioner's appellate arguments regarding the same. See 
INS v. Bagamasbad, 429 U.S. 24, 25 (1976) (noting that "courts and agencies are not required to make 
findings on issues the decision of which is unnecessary to the results they reach"); see also Matter of 
L-A-C-, 26 I&N Dec. 516, 526 n. 7 (BIA 2015) ( declining to reach alternative issues on appeal where 
an applicant is otherwise ineligible). 
B. Substantial Merit and National Importance 
The first Dhanasar prong, substantial merit and national importance, focuses on the specific endeavor 
that the individual proposes to undertake and its "potential prospective impact." Id. at 889. The 
endeavor's merit may be demonstrated in a range of areas such as business, entrepreneurialism, 
science, technology, culture, health, or education. In determining whether the proposed endeavor has 
national importance, we consider its potential prospective impact. Id. The term "endeavor" is more 
specific than the general occupation; a petitioner should offer details not only as to what the occupation 
normally involves, but what types of work the person proposes to undertake specifically within that 
occupation. For example, while engineering is an occupation, the explanation of the proposed 
endeavor should describe the specific projects and goals, or the areas of engineering in which the 
person will work, rather than simply listing the duties and responsibilities of an engineer. See 
generally 6 USCIS Policy Manual F.5(D)(l), https://www.uscis.gov/policy-manual. As such, we will 
first identify the Petitioner's endeavor as shown in the record. Then, we will evaluate the Petitioner's 
evidence in support of the endeavor's substantial merit and national importance. 
2 See Flores v. Garland, 72 F.4th 85, 88 (5th Cir. 2023) (joining the Ninth, Eleventh, and D.C. Circuit Courts (and Third 
in an unpublished decision) in concluding that USCIS' decision to grant or deny a national interest waiver is discretionary 
in nature). 
2 
The Petitioner asserts that he will serve as project manager in his own business, 
c=](the Company), located in I I Florida. 3 The purpose of the Company is to provide assets 
and property management to small and medium sized businesses. As an example of his endeavor, the 
Petitioner provides a contract between the Company and another entity for services. The other entity 
is described as a well-established company that manages over 55 properties in various locations in 
Florida. For this entity and others, the Petitioner asserts he will develop an "active consulting model 
focused on managing clients' assets and all the associated variables to improve the efficiency of 
services offered." 
In the "National Importance" section of his personal statement, the Petitioner explains that the field of 
asset management improves the performance of organizations, which positively impacts investment 
decisions, thus growing the economy. As a project manager for his own company, he intends to 
manage "functional assets such as machinery and equipment that are part of the general infrastructure 
in any development" and claims that by doing so, he will reduce costs, extend the "useful life" of this 
equipment and assets, and improve the return on investments. He also asserts that his proposed 
endeavor is aligned with USCIS's STEM policy because he will use his expertise in engineering and 
project management to succeed in this proposed endeavor. The Petitioner's evidence establishes that 
he has incorporated the Company under the laws of Florida. 
To highlight the importance of investments, the Petitioner points to the National Association of Real 
Estate Investment Managers' 2022 defined contribution survey results, which found that $80 billion 
are invested in private real estate, and that new investors account for 40% of "net inflows into their 
2021 funds." He maintains that his proposed endeavor to work as an asset and investment manager is 
crucial to maintaining profitability of real estate investments, which is important to the health of the 
economy. As evidence of the potential impact his proposed endeavor may have, he explains that a 
company he currently works for, which has operations throughout Latin America, grew 60% in the 
last six years and went from having 16 to 33 real estate projects by close of 2021, over which he 
"oversaw their inspection, monitoring, and control." He concludes that with his combination of 
professional experience, business know-how, and technical skills, developed over his more than 20-
year career, he will be an asset to the United States. 
In response to the Director's request for evidence, the Petitioner submitted a business plan, in which 
he explains our economy's growing need for asset and project management services among small and 
medium-sized enterprises due to the unique challenges these organizations face. He explains that 
many of these companies lack in house resources and the expertise to handle complex asset and project 
management planning and that without this expertise, these companies suffer from long-term 
sustainability risks. His plan also asserts that these risks threaten to harm the overall economy because 
job creation is important and because it is linked to growth in the small and middle-sized business 
sectors. His business plan notes that Florida is an ideal location for his proposed endeavor because 
the state has many small and medium-sized businesses, and he will primarily target those businesses 
in the real estate, construction, transportation and warehousing, and manufacturing sectors. His plan 
further maintains the national importance of his endeavor is linked to the success of the businesses he 
3 We note that while we may not discuss every document submitted by the Petitioner, we have reviewed and considered 
each one. 
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will provide project management services to, and the improved tax revenues, and domestic 
employment opportunities that will come from the success of these businesses. 
The Petitioner's business plan maintains the Company will hire a sales representative, a community 
manager, 12 maintenance technicians, three property managers, an administrative assistant, an 
accountant, nine internal control analysts, and nine operations assistants by the year 2028, for a total 
of 44 direct employees (and 16 indirect hires) by the Company's fifth year of operations. It also notes 
that by its fifth year, the Company will generate $2,030,077 in payroll expenses, $3,517,500 in total 
sales, $781,448 in net profit, and have a net worth of $2,422,743. Elsewhere in the record, he explains 
that national initiatives promoted by the Federal Project Management Improvement Act, the Office of 
Management and Budget, the Federal Acquisition Regulations, the General Services Administration 
-Public Buildings Service, and the Department of Defense's Defense Acquisition System, are aligned 
with his endeavor because these initiatives acknowledge the national importance that project and asset 
management play in government, which supports his endeavor's national importance. As such, he 
asserts that the field of project and asset management represents principles and practices that are 
important across multiple sectors. Finally, he maintains that his endeavor contributes to the goals of 
the Interim National Security Strategic Guidance which seeks to expand economic prosperity and 
opportunity. 
As the endeavor's merit may be demonstrated in a range of areas, we agree with the Director that the 
endeavor has substantial merit. Id. However, as discussed below, the Petitioner has not established 
that his proposed endeavor is of national importance. 
On appeal, the Petitioner provides a brief and asserts the Director ignored evidence including the 
Petitioner's business plan, personal statement, and the opinion letter provided by a professor. 
However, the Petitioner's allegation lacks factual specificity. See Onyenanu v. Garland, 2024 WL 
184254 (U.S. District Court, Tampa, Florida) (finding that an appellant bears the burden of supporting 
their allegations against USCIS with "factual specificity"). Here, the Director's decision addressed 
the deficiencies in the professor's opinion letter and quoted directly from the Petitioner's documents. 
Furthermore, the Director directly quoted the description of the Petitioner's proposed endeavor as 
found in his petition cover letter. While the decision did not specifically mention the Petitioner's 
personal statement, and business plan, on appeal, the Petitioner does not explain how the Director's 
failure to mention these documents caused legal or factual error to his detriment. The personal 
statement and the business plan speak to the Petitioner's proposed endeavor and its purported national 
importance, which the Director addressed in their decision. Furthermore, it is not the quantity of the 
evidence but the quality of the evidence that will establish the Petitioner's burden, and the Petitioner 
has not explained with sufficient detail how the Director's decision failed to consider the quality of 
the evidence presented other than stating that "[a ]n in-totality analysis of both the quantum and quality 
of the evidence presented established [the Petitioner J's national importance would reasonably lead to 
a conclusion that, by a preponderance of the evidence, she [sic] complies with the prongs stated in 
[Dhanasar] .... " As such, the Petitioner's allegations that the Director failed to consider evidence 
lacks factual specificity. 
Upon de novo review, we acknowledge that the Petitioner's proposed endeavor has positive objectives, 
and while these assertions underscore the substantial merit of his endeavor, they do not establish that 
the Company's services have a potential prospective impact beyond the individual businesses to which 
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he will provide services. We further note that his assertions with respect to the shortage of project 
management professionals in the United States, like him, does not render his proposed endeavor 
nationally important under the Dhanasar framework because the U.S. Department of Labor directly 
addresses these shortages through the labor certification process. Finally, while the recommendation 
letters he submitted show that he has a professional network that holds him in high regard and has 
strong belief in his abilities to succeed in his proposed endeavor, this evidence would be relevant to 
our analysis under Dhanasar 's second prong, where we consider whether the Petitioner is well­
positioned to advance the proposed endeavor but does not relate to its national importance. 
The business plan provided contains a section, "the Petitioner's National-Level Impact," which 
outlines how his professional experience, education, and expertise in asset and project management, 
will provide benefits to the U.S. economy. However, as above, we note that these factors are relevant 
to our analysis under Dhanasar 's second prong, but do not establish the endeavor's national 
importance. The remainder of this section highlights the Company's services (strategic alignment 
with objectives, efficient asset management, regular inspections and audits, and risk management and 
compliance), however these descriptions would go to the substantial merit of the endeavor, but not its 
national importance. He includes a section, "Positive Impact on the U.S. Economy," where he 
summarizes the importance of small and medium-sized businesses to the U.S. economy, and how his 
endeavor aims to help these businesses maximize profits, create jobs, and increase GDP and tax 
revenue, making the United States more globally competitive and economically stable. We 
acknowledge the Petitioner's foregoing assertions and applaud his commitment to employ his 
entrepreneurial drive to assist small and medium sized businesses in the United States. He further 
asserts that he will ensure compliance with regulatory and industry standards, which will lead 
businesses to adopt best practices and avoid legal and security issues. And he claims to be eager to 
share his expertise, which will help the United States manage the shortage of talent in his field, and 
that being an immigrant entrepreneur will help create jobs for native-born Americans, thereby 
strengthening the U.S.'s social fabric. These are all laudable goals. However, the Petitioner has not 
submitted independent evidence supporting these claims and assertions, and without more, there is 
insufficient evidence to conclude that his endeavor is of national importance. See, e.g., Matter ofS­
M-, 22 I&N Dec. 49, 51 (BIA 1998) (noting that "statements in a brief, motion, or Notice of Appeal 
are not evidence and thus are not entitled to any evidentiary weight"). In this regard, we note that the 
letters he provided from potential clients lack critical details which could permit us to determine the 
national importance of his endeavor. For instance, a letter dated July 2023 from ______ 
confirms he has been working with them since July 2023, and performing the role of asset and 
project manager, and lists his responsibilities, however it does not indicate or explain how his services 
have national importance. Likewise, another letter dated May 2023 from I Iexpresses 
their interest in working with the Petitioner's company. However, this letter provides vague details 
regarding the nature of their engagement with the Petitioner, and only lists three bullet points of the 
duties he will perform for them. As such, while these letters speak to the Petitioner's ability to assist 
these clients, they do not establish the national importance of his endeavor. See Matter ofChawathe, 
25 I&N Dec. at 375-76 (standing for the proposition that a petitioner must support their assertions with 
relevant, probative, and credible evidence). 
An assistant professor of professional practice at ______ and adjunct associate professor 
of business at _____ provides an opinion letter in which he asserts the Petitioner's endeavor 
is of national importance. However, this opinion is not sufficient to meet his burden. At the beginning 
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of the letter, the professor states "[h ]aving reviewed the Curriculum Vitae, academic credentials, and 
reference letters, it is my opinion that the weight of the evidence favors granting [the Petitioner's] 
National Interest Waiver because he satisfies the three-prong test outlined in [ Dhanasar] .... " Because 
the opinion is solely based on information provided by the Petitioner, it does not contain sufficient 
objective evidence to establish the Petitioner's burden. Thus, we agree with the Director that the 
opinion letter "restates claims made by the [P]etitioner in the cover letter and business proposal 
without providing independent supporting evidence." As such, although the professor asserts that the 
endeavor has national implications in the field, the opinion is of limited probative value. See Matter 
ofCaron Int 'l, Inc., 19 I&N Dec. 791, 795 (Comm'r 1988) (standing for the proposition that we may, 
in our discretion, use opinion statements submitted by a petitioner as advisory but, where an opinion 
is not in accord with other information or is in any way questionable, we are not required to accept or 
may give less weight to that opinion); see also Matter of Chawathe, 25 I&N Dec. at 3 75-76. 
Furthermore, the writer uses reports from social science journals to assert the national importance of 
the Petitioner's endeavor because it is a high skilled job with potential to relieve a labor shortage in 
the global information-based economy and the importance of project management services to 
businesses. We note however, that under the Dhanasar framework, merely working in an important 
field is insufficient to establish an endeavor's national importance. For example, in Dhanasar, we 
determined that a STEM teacher's proposed endeavor had substantial merit, but that the record did not 
establish his teaching activities would impact the field of education more broadly. Id. at 893. 
Similarly, while the Petitioner's skillset may be valuable to his clients, the evidence does not establish 
that his endeavor will impact the field of project management or U.S. economy more broadly. See 
Matter ofChawathe, 25 I&N Dec. at 375-76. 
The Petitioner also relies on industry reports and articles concerning such topics as the importance of 
immigrant entrepreneurship to economic growth and American competitiveness, the importance of 
operations management in business, and the importance of small businesses as a driver for U.S. 
economic growth. However, while the information provides a context for some of his assertions, they 
do not specifically discuss the Petitioner's proposed endeavor or explain how his endeavor would have 
broader implications. Matter of Chawathe, 25 I&N Dec. at 3 75-76. In determining whether the 
proposed endeavor has national importance, the relevant question is not the importance of the field, 
industry, or profession in which the individual will work; instead, we focus on the "the specific 
endeavor that the foreign national proposes to undertake." Dhanasar, I&N Dec. at 889. 
Regarding the Petitioner's assertion that his proposed endeavor aligns with USCIS's STEM policy, 
we note that many proposed endeavors that aim to advance STEM technologies and research, whether 
in academic or industry settings, not only have substantial merit in relation to U.S. science and 
technology interests, but also have sufficiently broad potential implications to demonstrate national 
importance. Id. at 890. In this case, the record does not suggest that the Petitioner intends to advance 
STEM technologies and research. While the Petitioner will likely offer asset and project management 
services to his clients, he has not established how the Company would affect STEM employment levels 
in his industry or the U.S. economy more broadly consistent with national importance, as required 
under Dhanasar. Id. at 893. 
As contemplated by Dhanasar, we examine the record to determine if there is sufficient evidence to 
conclude the Petitioner's "undertaking may have national importance ... because it has national or 
even global implications within a particular field, such as those resulting from certain improved 
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manufacturing processes or medical advances." Id. Here, the Petitioner has not submitted evidence 
supporting the assertion that as an asset and project manager, his endeavor will alter or improve upon 
similar services already available and in use in the United States. 
We also explained in Dhanasar that "[a]n endeavor that has significant potential to employ U.S. 
workers or has other substantial positive economic effects, particularly in an economically depressed 
area . . . may well be understood to have national importance ." Id. at 890. We acknowledge that the 
Petitioner's business plan projects the creation of numerous jobs , revenue , taxes paid, and increases in 
investments by its fifth year of operation, however his business plan does not sufficiently detail the 
basis for the revenue and staffing projections , nor does it adequately explain how the revenue and 
staffing projections will be realized. Matter ofChawathe , 25 I&N Dec. at 376. As such, without more, 
he has not established that his endeavor will have substantial positive economic effects at a level 
commensurate with national importance. 
In sum, the Petitioner has not established that his proposed endeavor stands to sufficiently extend 
beyond his clients to impact his field more broadly at a level commensurate with national importance. 
Nor has he shown that the work he proposes to undertake offers original innovations that contribute 
to advancements or otherwise has broader implications for his field. Furthermore , the Petitioner has 
not demonstrated that his specific endeavor has significant potential to employ U.S. workers or 
otherwise offers substantial positive economic effects for our nation . Without evidence regarding any 
projected U.S. economic impact or job creation directly attributable to his work, the Petitioner has not 
established that benefits to the regional or national economy resulting from his endeavor would reach the 
level of "substantial positive economic effects" contemplated by Dhanasar. Id. at 890. 
C. Dhanasar's Second and Third Prongs 
As the Petitioner has not established the national importance of his proposed endeavor , we decline to 
reach and hereby reserve the Petitioner's arguments regarding his eligibility under the second and third 
prongs. See INS v. Bagamasbad, 429 U.S. at 25; see also Matter ofL-A-C-, 26 I&N Dec. at 526 n.7. 
III. CONCLUSION 
The Petitioner has not established the national importance of his proposed endeavor , and consequently 
that a waiver of the job offer and labor certification process , in the exercise of our discretion , is in the 
national interest. 
ORDER: The appeal is dismissed. 
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