dismissed EB-2 NIW Case: Business/Entrepreneurship

U.S. Citizenship 
and Immigration 
Services 
Non-Precedent Decision of the
Administrative Appeals Office 
Date: APR. 8, 2024 In Re: 30542222 
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 a 
member of the professions holding an advanced degree, 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 qualified 
for EB-2 classification, but that she had not established 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 record supports the Director's conclusion that the Petitioner established her eligibility for EB-2 
classification as an advanced degree professional under 8 C.F.R. § 204.5(k)(2). As such, the only 
remaining issue is whether the Petitioner's endeavor meets the Dhanasar framework for a 
discretionary national interest waiver. 
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. 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. at 889. The term "endeavor" is more specific than the general occupation; 
thus, 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. See generally 6 
USCIS Policy Manual F.5(D)(l), https://www.uscis.gov/policy-manual. 
Because Dhanasar 's first prong focuses on the specific endeavor that the foreign national proposes to 
undertake and its "potential prospective impact," we will first identify the Petitioner's endeavor as 
shown in the record and then, we will evaluate the Petitioner's evidence in support of the endeavor's 
substantial merit and national importance. See id. at 889. 
The Petitioner's proposed endeavor is to continue operating her company, 
( d/b/al located in I I Florida, for which she is co-owner and chief executive 
officer. The Petitioner's business plan states that her company commenced operations in February 2021 
and forecasts that it will grow through franchise expansion to other towns in the state of Florida, where 
there is a large and growing Brazilian population. The endeavor provides the following services: 
importing traditional Brazilian products, cooperating with Florida based vendors and suppliers, selling 
ethnic foods and products in her supermarket, providing door-to-door and in-store counter service as 
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). 
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well as self-service, digital, and delivery options, organizing events, promotions, and presentations, 
attending traditional Brazilian food fairs and shows, and supporting the local and regional Central 
Florida communities. Thus, her endeavor currently appears to have two separate arms, one of which 
is the operation of a supermarket selling Brazilian goods, and the other is an event planning arm. She 
highlights that her business is operating successfully with over 200 sales per day, has created six jobs, 
over two million in sales, has a net income of over $400,000, and assets of over $400,000. She also 
projects that by its fifth year of operation, her endeavor will create 30 direct jobs and a "good number" 
of indirect jobs. As such, we agree with the Director's conclusion that the proposed endeavor has 
substantial merit. 
Because the endeavor has substantial merit, we tum to whether the proposed endeavor is of national 
importance, as contemplated by Dhanasar. 
On appeal, the Petitioner asserts that the Director "imposed novel substantive and evidentiary 
requirements beyond those set forth in the regulations" and that the Director "did not apply the proper 
standard of proof ... instead imposing a stricter standard, and erroneously applied the law, to the 
detriment of the Applicant." Furthermore, she asserts that the Director did not give "due regard" to 
her business plan and "business documents." She maintains that her endeavor is of national 
importance because it will "generate substantial ripple effects upon key business activities" and is a 
"vital aspect of [the] U.S. Business/ Event Planner industry," and will contribute to the revenue of the 
U.S.' s business ecosystem. 3 She claims that her endeavor broadly enhances societal welfare, and 
increases the "country's social, business, and governmental well-being in all senses," by creating jobs, 
which impact the regional and national population, and national employment levels. Finally, she 
asserts that her endeavor is aligned with U.S. government initiatives to encourage women and 
minority-owned small business growth. 
In determining national importance, the relevant question is not the importance of the industry or 
profession in which the individual will work; instead, we focus on "the specific endeavor that the 
foreign national proposes to undertake." Dhanasar, 26 I&N Dec. at 889. In Dhanasar, we further 
noted that "we look for broader implications" of the proposed endeavor and that "[aa ]n undertaking 
may have national importance ... , because it has national or even global implications within a 
particular field, such as those resulting from certain improved manufacturing processes or medical 
advances." Id. We also stated 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, for instance, may well be understood to have national importance." Id. at 890. Here, the 
Petitioner must demonstrate the national importance of her company's services rather than the national 
importance of the fields of entrepreneurship, supermarkets providing ethnic foods, or event planning. 
3 We note that several times throughout the Petitioner's appeal's brief, she references "depressive areas," however given 
the context in which this phrase is used, its meaning is unclear. Thus, we cannot address her arguments as they pertain to 
"depressive areas." Furthermore, in her response to the Director's request for evidence, the Petitioner states that the 
national importance of her proposed endeavor "should not be analyzed singularly thinking only of economically attending 
or impacting depressed areas, because business/ entrepreneurship industry impact economically all kind of area even if not 
in needed." Similarly, our ability to address this statement is impeded because the statement itselflacks clarity and contains 
several typos, which make it difficult to understand. See Matter of Chawathe, 25 I&N Dec. at 375-76 (standing for the 
proposition that a petitioner bears the burden of providing relevant, probative, and credible evidence to support their 
assertions). 
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At the outset, we acknowledge the Petitioner ' s arguments in her response to the Director's request for 
evidence, which noted that her endeavor promotes entrepreneurship , the importance of ethnic 
supermarkets to provide products for the large Hispanic and Asian populations, and the revenue 
stemming from ethnic supermarket industry. However, while these arguments establish the substantial 
merit of the Petitioner's endeavor, they do not establish its national importance. 
The Petitioner's expert opinion letter from an associate adjunct professor atl lstates that 
a "healthy event planning industry depends on the willingness of households and businesses to spend 
money on social gatherings." The professor goes on to explain that spending on event planning 
services is a sign of a healthy economy, and thus the Petitioner 's endeavor is of national importance. 
However, as the Director points out, the Petitioner did not include owning a supermarket as part of her 
proposed endeavor, therefore, the expert opinion letter's emphasis only on the event planning industry 
does not encompass her actual proposed endeavor. Furthermore, it is not the field or industry but the 
endeavor that the individual will carry out that must be shown to be of national importance. Therefore, 
because of these deficiencies, the opinion does not help to establish the national importance of her 
proposed endeavor. See Matter ofCaron Int '!, 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 375-76 (standing for the proposition that a petitioner must support their assertions with 
relevant, probative, and credible evidence). 
To evaluate whether the Petitioner's proposed endeavor satisfies the national importance requirement 
we look to evidence documenting the "potential prospective impact" of her work. Dhanasar, 26 I&N 
Dec. at 889. Although the Petitioner ' s statements reflect her intention to provide event planning 
services, she has n ot offered sufficient, specific information and evidence to demonstrate that t he 
prospective impact of her proposed endeavor rises to the level of national importance. On appeal, the 
Petitioner points to the invoices, and other evidence of several events she has already held to counter 
the Director's conclusion that her endeavor will not affect the event planning field more broadly. 
However, she does not explain how carrying out event planning activities is sufficient to show the 
"broader implications" her events have on the field of event planning or entrepreneurship. In 
Dhanasar, we determined that the petitioner's teaching activities did not rise to the level of having 
national importance because they would not impact his field more broadly. Id. at 893. Here, the 
record does not establish the Petitioner 's proposed endeavor stands to sufficiently extend beyond 
potential customers to impact the event planning field or U.S. economy more broadly at a level 
commensurate with national importance. 
Finally, the Petitioner has not demonstrated that the specific endeavor she proposes to undertake has 
significant potential to employ U.S. workers or otherwise offers substantial positive economic effects 
for our nation. We acknowledge that her business plan discusses the correlation between gaining 
customers and the need for additional employees, and that she projects 30 direct jobs by its fifth year 
of operation. However, the 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, other than generally stating that she wishes to franchise her supermarket. Matter of 
Chawathe, 25 I&N Dec. at 376. Furthermore, while we acknowledge her assertion that her business 
is generating 200 sales a day as well as tax revenue, her projections and current sales are insufficient, 
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without more, to establish that her endeavor will have substantial positive economic effects at a level 
commensurate with national importance. As such, the record does not show that benefits to the U.S. 
regional or national economy resulting from the Petitioner's endeavor would reach the level of 
"substantial positive economic effects" as contemplated by Dhanasar. Id. at 890. 
Accordingly, the Petitioner's proposed endeavor does not meet the first prong of the Dhanasar 
framework because she has not established the national importance of her endeavor. 
C. Dhanasar 's Third Prong and Additional Considerations 
As the Petitioner has not established the national importance of her proposed endeavor, we decline to 
reach and hereby reserve the Petitioner's arguments regarding her eligibility under the third prong of 
the Dhanasar framework. 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). Similarly, we reserve our 
review of the Petitioner's response to the Director's conclusion that her endeavor did not initially 
include being an owner of a supermarket, but instead was solely focused on event planning activities. 
Id. 
III. CONCLUSION 
As the Petitioner has not met the requisite first prong of the Dhanasar analytical framework, we conclude 
that she has not demonstrated that she is eligible for or otherwise merits a national interest waiver as 
a matter of discretion. 
ORDER: The appeal is dismissed. 
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