dismissed EB-2 NIW Case: Financial Technology Consulting

U.S. Citizenship 
and Immigration 
Services 
In Re: 7880537 
Appeal of Texas Service Center Decision 
Non-Precedent Decision of the 
Administrative Appeals Office 
Date : MAY . 1, 2020 
Form 1-140, Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker (Advanced Degree, Exceptional Ability, National 
Interest Waiver) 
The Petitioner , a financial applications consultant, seeks second preference 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 EB-2 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 classification as a member of the professions holding an advanced degree, 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. 
On appeal, the Petitioner submits a brief asserting that she is eligible for a national interest waiver. 
In these proceedings, it is the petitioner's burden to establish eligibility for the immigration benefit 
sought. Section 291 of the Act, 8 U.S.C. § 1361. Upon de nova 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. Because this classification requires that the 
individual's services be sought by a U.S. employer, a separate showing is required to establish that a 
waiver of the job offer requirement is in the national interest. 
Section 203 (b) of the Act sets out this sequential framework: 
(2) Aliens who are members of the professions holding advanced degrees or aliens of 
exceptional ability. -
(A) In general. - Visas shall be made available ... to qualified immigrants who are 
members of the professions holding advanced degrees or their equivalent or 
who because of their exceptional ability in the sciences, arts, or business, will 
substantially benefit prospectively the national economy, cultural or 
educational interests, or welfare of the United States, and whose services in the 
sciences, arts, professions, or business are sought by an employer in the United 
States. 
(B) Waiver ofjob offer-
(i) National interest waiver. ... [T]he Attorney General may, when the Attorney 
General deems it to be in the national interest, waive the requirements of 
subparagraph (A) that an alien's services in the sciences, arts, professions, or 
business be sought by an employer in the United States. 
While neither the statute nor the pertinent regulations define the term "national interest," we set forth 
a framework for adjudicating national interest waiver petitions in the precedent decision Matter of 
Dhanasar, 26 I&N Dec. 884 (AAO 2016). 1 Dhanasar states that after a petitioner has established 
eligibility for EB-2 classification, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) may, as matter 
of discretion 2, grant a national interest waiver if the petitioner demonstrates: (1) that the foreign 
national's proposed endeavor has both substantial merit and national importance; (2) that the foreign 
national is well positioned to advance the proposed endeavor; and (3) that, on balance, it would be 
beneficial to the United States to waive the requirements of a job offer and thus of a labor certification. 
The first prong, substantial merit and national importance, focuses on the specific endeavor that the 
foreign national 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. 
The second prong shifts the focus from the proposed endeavor to the foreign national. To determine 
whether he or she is well positioned to advance the proposed endeavor, we consider factors including, 
but not limited to: the individual's education, skills, knowledge and record of success in related or 
similar efforts; a model or plan for future activities; any progress towards achieving the proposed 
endeavor; and the interest of potential customers, users, investors, or other relevant entities or 
individuals. 
The third prong requires the petitioner to demonstrate that, on balance, it would be beneficial to the 
United States to waive the requirements of a job offer and thus of a labor certification. In performing 
this analysis, USCIS may evaluate factors such as: whether, in light of the nature of the foreign 
national's qualifications or the proposed endeavor, it would be impractical either for the foreign 
national to secure a job offer or for the petitioner to obtain a labor certification; whether, even assuming 
that other qualified U.S. workers are available, the United States would still benefit from the foreign 
1 In announcing this new framework, we vacated our prior precedent decision, Matter of New York State Department of 
Transportation, 22 T&N Dec. 215 (Act. Assoc. Comm'r 1998) (NYSD01). 
2 See also Poursina v. USCIS, No. 17-16579, 2019 WL 4051593 (Aug. 28, 2019) (finding USCTS' decision to grant or 
deny a national interest waiver to be discretionary in nature). 
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national's contributions; and whether the national interest in the foreign national's contributions is 
sufficiently urgent to warrant forgoing the labor certification process. In each case, the factor(s) 
considered must, taken together, indicate that on balance, it would be beneficial to the United States 
to waive the requirements of a job offer and thus of a labor certification. 3 
II. ANALYSIS 
The Director found that the Petitioner qualifies as a member of the professions holding an advanced 
degree. The remaining issue to be determined is whether the Petitioner has established that a waiver of 
the requirement of a job offer, and thus a labor certification, would be in the national interest. 
Regarding the Petitioner's claim of eligibility under Dhanasar's first ~she indicated that her 
proposed "endeavor in the U.S. is to use her expert level knowledge in L__J Financial to serve the 
federal government, public sector, and large U.S. companies. [The Petitioner] is one of the top I I 
experts specialized inl lfinarial aprlication for large organizations. "4 She explained that "[ S ]he 
designs, validates, and presents software solutions to public sectors and federal agencies. 
Specifically, [the Petitioner] builds solutions so that federal agencies and state governments can comply 
with business requirements." She further stated: 
~etitioner] leads a team ofl !specialists which advises customers on the use of 
l__Jproducts to help the government organize and operate efficiently and effectively. 
She reviews and evaluates business requirements and proposes solutions to reduce cost 
and increase government savings. [The Petitioner] provides customers with her expertise 
and presents solutions in the form ofLJsoftware. In turn, the customer purchases the 
product and implements the solutions. 
For the reasons discussed below, we agree with the Director that the Petitioner has not sufficiently 
demonstrated the national importance of her proposed endeavor under the first prong of the Dhanasar 
analytical framework. 
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 "the specific endeavor that the 
foreign national proposes to undertake." See Dhanasar, 26 I&N Dec. at 889. In Dhanasar, we further 
noted that "we look for broader implications" of the proposed endeavor and that "[ a ]n undertaking 
may have national importance for example, because it has national or even global implications within 
3 See Dhanasar, 26 T&N Dec. at 888-91, for elaboration on these three prongs. 
4 In response to the Director's request for evidence, the Petitioner provided a September 2018 employment verification 
document from~identifying her job title as "Senior Sales Consultant" and listing her date ofhire as ·'April 18, 1995." 
With respect to her ''Employment Status," this document lists the Petitioner as ·'Inactive - Inactive Date: 08/12/2016." In 
addition, the Petitioner submitted a September 2018 letter from I ci a data center solutions company, 
stating: ·'[The Petitioner] is a Business Analystie=] Solutions Analyst at ~cused on supporting Finance .... 
[The Petitioner] is the Ikey ITI rinformation Technology] resource implementing the Cash Management, Tax, and Fixed 
Assets modules within Cloud ERP" (Enterprise Resource Planning). As the Petitioner is applying for a waiver of 
the job offer requirement, it i~ not necessa[ for 
1
er to have a job offer from a specific employer. However, we will 
consider information about her positions at and ~ to illustrate the capacity in which she intends to work in 
order to determine whether her proposed endeavor meets the requirements of the Dhanasar analytical framework. 
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a particular field." 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. 
On appeal, the Petitioner argues that her proposed endeavor stands to save "billions of dollars" for the 
U.S. Federal Government and that she offered "a long list of federal government agencies that she had 
provided consulting services." The record, however, does not include supporting information or 
evidence from any of these agencies to corroborate her claim regarding the "billions of dollars" in 
savings attributable to her undertaking. 5 
In addition, the Petitioner points to her education, IT skills, =ro~ect management abilities, knowledge 
~ied economics, 20 years of experience working for I blients, and contribution to "multiple 
L__J Financial and Accounting Guides releases." 6 The Petitioner's knowledge, skills, and 
consulting experience, however, are considerations under Dhanasar's second prong, which "shifts the 
focus from the proposed endeavor to the foreign national." Id. at 890. The issue here under the first 
prong is whether the Petitioner has demonstrated the national importance of her proposed work. 
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. Although the 
Petitioner's statements reflect her intention to provide valuable consulting services for her employer 
and its clients, she has not offered sufficient information and evidence to demonstrate that the 
prospective impact of her proposed endeavor rises to the level of national importance. 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, we find the record 
does not show that the Petitioner's proposed endeavor stands to sufficiently extend beyond her 
employer and clientele to impact her field or the nation's fiscal condition more broadly at a level 
commensurate with national importance. 
Furthermore, 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. Without sufficient information or evidence regarding any projected U.S. economic 
impact or job creation attributable to her future work, the record does not show that benefits to the U.S. 
regional or national economy resulting from the Petitioner's projects would reach the level of "substantial 
positive economic effects" contemplated by Dhanasar. Id. at 890. Accordingly, the Petitioner's 
proposed work does not meet the first prong of the Dhanasar framework. 
Because the documentation in the record does not establish the national importance of her proposed 
endeavor as required by the first prong of the Dhanasar precedent decision, the Petitioner has not 
demonstrated eligibility for a national interest waiver. Further analysis of her eligibility under the second 
and third prongs outlined in Dhanasar, therefore, would serve no meaningful purpose. 
5 In Dhanasar, we held that a petitioner must identify "the specific endeavor that the foreign national proposes to 
undertake." Id. at 889. The record, however, does not include evidence of the Petitioner's upcoming projects for U.S. 
federal government agencies, or other information about the specific~financial consulting work the Petitioner plans 
to undertake in this country. 
6 While the record indicates that the Petitioner was listed as one of many contributors to severail7product user guides 
from the mid- l 990s until 2003, the evidence does not show that this work has been utilized be~and its clients. 
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III. CONCLUSION 
As the Petitioner has not met the requisite first prong of the Dhanasar analytical framework, we find that 
she has not established she is eligible for or otherwise merits a national interest waiver as a matter of 
discretion. The appeal will be dismissed for the above stated reasons, with each considered as an 
independent and alternate basis for the decision. 
ORDER: The appeal is dismissed. 
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