dismissed EB-2 NIW Case: Marketing

U.S. Citizenship 
and Immigration 
Services 
Non-Precedent Decision of the
Administrative Appeals Office 
Date: APR. 2, 2024 In Re: 30232013 
Appeal of Texas Service Center Decision 
Form 1-140, Immigrant Petition for Alien Workers (National Interest Waiver) 
Seeking to establish a marketing consultancy in the United States, the Petitioner requests classification 
under the employment-based, second-preference (EB-2) immigrant visa category and a waiver of the 
category's job-offer requirement. See Immigration and Nationality Act (the Act) section 
203(b)(2)(B)(i), 8 U.S.C. § 1153(b)(2)(B)(i). U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) 
has discretion to excuse job offers in this category - and thus related requirements for certifications 
from the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL)-if petitioners demonstrate that waiving these U.S.-worker 
protections would be "in the national interest." Id. 
The Director of the Texas Service Center denied the petition. The Director found the Petitioner 
qualified for the EB-2 category and determined that her proposed business has "substantial merit." 
But the Director concluded that the Petitioner did not demonstrate the merits of a national interest 
waiver. On appeal, the Petitioner contends that the Director "imposed novel substantive and 
evidentiary requirements." She asserts that: her proposed endeavor has "national importance;" she is 
"well positioned" to advance it; and, overall, a waiver grant would benefit the United States. 
The Petitioner bears the burden of demonstrating eligibility for the requested benefit by a 
preponderance of the evidence. Matter of Chawathe, 25 I&N Dec. 369, 375-76 (AAO 2010). 
Exercising de novo appellate review, see Matter of Christo 's, Inc., 26 I&N Dec. 537, 537 n.2 (AAO 
2015), we conclude that she has not established the national importance of her proposed endeavor. 
We will therefore dismiss the appeal. 
I. LAW 
To establish eligibility for national interest waivers, petitioners must first demonstrate their 
qualifications for the EB-2 category, either as members of the professions holding "advanced degrees" 
or their equivalents, or as noncitizens of "exceptional ability" in the sciences, arts, or business. Section 
203(b )(2)(A) of the Act. To protect the jobs of U.S. workers, this category usually requires prospective 
employers to offer noncitizens jobs and to obtain DOL certifications to permanently employ the 
individuals in the country. See section 212(a)(5)(D) of the Act, 8 U.S.C. § l 182(a)(5)(D). Petitioners 
may avoid the job offer/labor certification requirements by demonstrating that waivers of the U.S.­
worker protections would be in the national interest. Section 203(b)(2)(B)(i) of the Act. 
Neither the Act nor regulations define the term "national interest." So, to adjudicate these waiver 
requests, we have established a framework. See Matter ofDhanasar, 26 I&N Dec. 884, 889-91 (AAO 
2016). If otherwise qualified as advanced degree professionals or noncitizens of exceptional ability, 
petitioners may warrant waivers of the job-offer/labor certification requirements by demonstrating 
that: 
• Their proposed U.S. work has "substantial merit" and "national importance;" 
• They are "well positioned" to advance their intended endeavors; and 
• On balance, waivers of the job-offer/labor certification requirements would benefit the United 
States. 
Id. 
II. ANALYSIS 
A. The Proposed Endeavor 
The record shows that the Petitioner, a Brazilian native and citizen, earned a bachelor's degree in 
advertising and marketing and a graduate business management diploma in marketing. She has more 
than 10 years' experience in Brazil as a marketing professional. From 2010 to 2014, she worked as a 
publicity marketing analyst for a television broadcaster. Since 2014, a credit bureau has employed her 
as a senior marketing analyst, business development specialist, and strategic account manager. 
In the United States, the Petitioner proposes to establish a business that provides consulting services 
to small- and medium-sized U.S. businesses. She states that her enterprise would advise businesses 
on marketing issues, such as: developing marketing objectives and policies; forecasting sales; 
developing new products and pricing; licensing and franchising; and marketing plans and strategies. 
The Petitioner's business plan indicates that she and her spouse would initially invest $400,000 in the 
venture. The business would begin in Florida, but the Petitioner plans to later open branches in 
California and Texas. The business plan projects that, within five years of operation, the enterprise 
would generate revenues of $1,131,000, with 27 foll-time employees, 10 part-time employees, and 27 
contractors working for it. 
B. EB-2 Eligibility 
The record supports the Director's finding that the Petitioner qualifies for the EB-2 category as an 
advanced degree professional. The Petitioner submitted an independent, professional evaluation of 
her foreign educational credentials. The evaluation finds her Brazilian graduate degree equivalent to 
a U.S. baccalaureate in marketing. The Petitioner also submitted evidence that she gained more than 
five years of post-baccalaureate experience as a marketing professional. The record therefore 
demonstrates her EB-2 eligibility as an advanced degree professional. See 8 C.F.R. § 204.5(k)(2) 
( defining the term "advanced degree" to include a "United States baccalaureate degree or a foreign 
equivalent degree followed by at least five years of progressive experience in the specialty"). 
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C. Substantial Merit 
The record also supports the Director's finding that the Petitioner's proposed endeavor has substantial 
merit. A proposed undertaking may have substantial merit whether it "has the potential to create a 
significant economic impact" or it relates to "research, pure science, and the furtherance of human 
knowledge." Matter ofDhanasar, 26 I&N Dec. at 889. 
The Petitioner submitted evidence that her proposed business could potentially generate revenues and 
jobs, and help ease a U.S. shortage of marketing and business professionals. The Petitioner therefore 
has demonstrated that her proposed endeavor has substantial merit. 
D. National Importance 
When determining whether a proposed endeavor has national importance, USCIS must focus on the 
particular venture, specifically on its "potential prospective impact." Matter of Dhanasar, 26 I&N 
Dec. at 889. "An undertaking may have national importance, for example, 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. A nationally important venture may even focus 
on only one geographic area of the United States. Id. at 889-90. "An 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. 
We agree with the Director that the Petitioner submitted insufficient evidence that her proposed 
business would generate substantial benefits beyond itself and its clients. Her fifth-year projections 
of$1 ,131,000 in revenues and employment of 37 employees and 27 contractors does not demonstrate 
that the enterprise would substantially boost the national economy. The Petitioner 's business plan 
states that the venture would benefit "economically distressed areas" in Florida, California, and Texas. 
But the record lacks sufficient evidence of the areas' economic distress or how the Petitioner's 
business would benefit them. Also, the Petitioner has neither claimed nor demonstrated that her 
business would advance the U.S. marketing field. Thus, she has not established that her endeavor has 
national implications within the field. She also has not established that her business has "significant 
potential to broadly enhance societal welfare or cultural or artistic enrichment, or to contribute to the 
advancement of a valuable technology or field of study." See 6 USCIS Policy Manual F.(5)(D)(l), 
www.uscis.gov/policy-manual. 
As evidence of the proposed business's national importance, the Petitioner submitted an expert opinion 
letter. According to the letter from a U.S. associate professor of business administration/marketing: 
"Marketing drives a consumer economy." The letter states that businesses using marketing generate 
more sales, leading to U.S. economic expansion, job growth, and higher tax revenues. Also, the 
professor stated that, as businesses seek new and creative ways to promote themselves and their 
products, the U.S. marketing industry itself expands. He states that new products and technologies 
also add to the industry's growth. 
The expert opinion letter, however, does not explain how the Petitioner 's particular business would 
substantially boost the U.S. economy or economically depressed U.S. regions. Also, the letter does 
not indicate that the Petitioner's business would have national implications for the marketing field. 
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USCIS may reject or afford lesser evidentiary weight to expert testimony "where an opinion is not in 
accord with other information or is in any way questionable." Matter of Caron Int'l, Inc., 19 I&N 
Dec. 791, 795 (Comm'r 1988). The Petitioner's expert opinion letter does not demonstrate that her 
proposed endeavor has national importance. 
On appeal, the Petitioner asserts that her proposed endeavor "has the potential to significantly 
contribute to the U.S. economy through job creation and economic impact." She states that her 
business plan "explicitly states [the enterprise's] intention to promote economic development by 
serving both businesses and individuals throughout the country." (emphasis in original). The 
Petitioner claims that her "measured marketing adaptations reflect her proposed endeavor's substantial 
merit and national importance, as not only has she prompted company growth, but her tactics have led 
to national and international economic developments." 
The record, however, lacks sufficient evidence to support the Petitioner's claims. As previously 
indicated, her projected revenues and number of employees do not demonstrate that her business 
would substantially affect the national economy. The record also lacks sufficient evidence to establish 
the business's proposed benefits to an economically depressed region or its potential national effect 
on the marketing field. 
The Petitioner states: 
it is crucial to recognize the role of the marketing professional as the main link between 
the business and its served markets .... The fact is that there is no other department or 
business function that has a greater impact on a company's revenues than the marketing 
and business development department. 
She asserts that her proposed endeavor is "unquestionably of national importance, given the significant 
impact of the role that marketing management professionals play in every type of business." 
The Petitioner's arguments support the marketing field's national importance. But they do not 
demonstrate the national importance of her particular proposed endeavor. As previously indicated, 
when determining whether a proposed venture has national importance, USCIS must focus on the 
specific proposed venture. See Matter ofDhanasar, 26 I&N Dec. at 889 ("The first prong, substantial 
merit and national importance, focuses on the specific endeavor that the foreign national proposes to 
undertake.") ( emphasis added). "In determining national importance, the officer's analysis should 
focus on what the [petitioner] will be doing rather than the specific occupational classification." 
6 USCIS Policy Manual F.(5)(D)(l). Thus, the Petitioner has submitted insufficient evidence that her 
particular endeavor would have national implications for the economy or the marketing field. 
The Petitioner's proposal is similar to one we denied in Dhanasar. There, the petitioner sought to 
teach U.S. students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines. Matter 
of Dhanasar, 26 I&N Dec. at 893. We agreed that the venture had substantial merit. Id. But we 
concluded that the endeavor lacked national importance because the petitioner did not establish that 
he "would be engaged in activities that would impact the field of STEM education more broadly." 
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The Petitioner's proposed endeavor also has substantial merit. But, like the petitioner in Dhanasar, 
she has not demonstrated that her venture would impact the national economy or the marketing field 
"more broadly." Thus, the Petitioner has not established that her proposed endeavor has national 
importance. We will therefore affirm the petition's denial. 
E. The Remaining Waiver Requirements 
Our decision regarding the proposed endeavor's national importance resolves this appeal. We need 
not reach, and thus reserve, consideration of the Petitioner's arguments that she is "well positioned" 
to advance her venture or that, overall, a waiver would benefit the United States. See INS v. 
Bagamasbad, 429 U.S. 24, 25 (1976) (stating that agencies need not make "purely advisory findings" 
on issues unnecessary to their ultimate decisions); see also Matter ofL-A-C-, 26 I&N Dec. 516, 526 
n.7 (BIA 2015) ( declining to reach alternate issues on appeal where an applicant did not otherwise 
meet their burden of proof). 
III. CONCLUSION 
The Petitioner has not demonstrated that her plan to establish a marketing consultancy in the United 
States has national importance. We will therefore affirm the denials of her request for a national 
interest waiver and, for lack of a job offer, the petition. 
ORDER: The appeal is dismissed. 
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