dismissed EB-2 NIW Case: Nursing

U.S. Citizenship 
and Immigration 
Services 
Non-Precedent Decision of the
Administrative Appeals Office 
Date: WL. 14, 2023 In Re: 26956092 
Appeal of Texas Service Center Decision 
Form 1-140, Immigrant Petition for Alien Workers (National Interest Waiver) 
The Petitioner, a nurse, seeks classification as a member of the professions holding an advanced 
degree. Immigration and Nationality Act (the Act) section 203(b )(2), 8 U.S.C. § 1153(b )(2). The 
Petitioner also seeks a national interest waiver of the job offer requirement that is attached to this EB-2 
immigrant classification. Section 203(b)(2)(B)(i) of the Act. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration 
Services (USCIS) may grant this discretionary waiver of the required job offer, and thus of a labor 
certification, when it is in the national interest to do so. 
The Director of the Texas Service Center denied the petition, concluding that the record did not 
establish that the Petitioner's endeavor would have national importance or that on balance, it would 
benefit the United States to waive the job offer requirement in the exercise of discretion. The matter 
is now before us on appeal. 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 Christa's, Inc., 26 I&N Dec. 537, 537 n.2 (AAO 2015). Upon de novo review, 
we will dismiss the appeal. 
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 )(2) of the Act. 
Neither the statute nor the pertinent regulations define the term "national interest." Matter of 
Dhanasar, 26 l&N Dec. 884 (AAO 2016) states that after EB-2 eligibility has been established, USCIS 
may, as a matter of discretion, grant a national interest waiver if the petitioner demonstrates that: (1) 
the noncitizen's proposed endeavor has both substantial merit and national importance; (2) that the 
noncitizen is well-positioned to advance the proposed endeavor; and (3) that, on balance, it would 
benefit the United States to waive the requirements of a job offer and thus of a labor certification. 
The Petitioner seeks to work as a nurse, healthcare manager, and nursing professor in the United States. 
The Director found that while the Petitioner qualifies as an advanced degree professional, her proposed 
endeavor will not have national importance. On appeal, the Petitioner submits a brief contending that 
her endeavor will have national importance due to the importance of nursing as a profession and her 
skills in this area. 
When determining whether a proposed endeavor will have national importance, the relevant question 
is not the importance of the industry or profession where a noncitizen will work, but the specific impact 
of that proposed endeavor. Dhanasar, 26 I&N Dec. at 889-90. An endeavor may have national 
importance if it has national or global implications within a particular field or if it has significant 
potential to employ U.S. workers or have other substantial economic effects, particularly in an 
economically depressed area. Id. at 890-91. For the reasons explained below, the Petitioner has not 
established that her endeavor would have an impact rising to the level of national importance. 
In her petition and on appeal, the Petitioner states that her endeavor will be to work as a nurse, 
healthcare manager, and professor of nursing, and submits lists of the duties and responsibilities of 
these occupations. Her appeal brief states, among other lines of work, that she will be employed "in 
healthcare institutions" in obstetrics, neonatology, pediatrics, medical clinics, surgical clinics, 
intensive care, emergency care, and oncology. It further states that she will audit medical records, 
manage finances and supplies for health institutions, and assist in unspecified hospital accreditation 
processes, as well as work as a professor of obstetrics, intensive care, neonatology, pediatrics, and 
medical and surgical clinical practice. However, she provides no specific information about how she 
will divide her time between her various proposed occupations or where she will work, beyond stating 
that it will be in healthcare settings. This does not provide a sufficient basis to evaluate the specific 
endeavor's potential national importance. See generally 6 USCIS Policy Manual F.5(D)(l), 
https://www.uscis.gov/policymanual ("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."). 
We acknowledge the materials provided by the Petitioner about the benefits she would provide to her 
potential employers and patients as a nurse. However, while nursing is an endeavor of substantial 
merit, that does not mean that all nursing positions are therefore endeavors with national importance. 
In Dhanasar, the petitioner's work as a science teacher was found to have substantial merit but did 
not establish national importance because the evidence did not show how that work would impact the 
field of science education more broadly. Dhanasar, 26 I&N Dec. at 893. While the Petitioner quotes 
various statistics about the general importance of her profession, she does not specify how her 
endeavor will impact that profession in a nationally important way. 
The Petitioner emphasizes the shortage of nurses in the United States, but it is not apparent from the 
evidence provided how the Petitioner's employment as a nurse would, in and of itself: resolve this 
shortage or impact it on a national level. 1 For example, the Petitioner states that Massachusetts has a 
1 The Department of Labor (DOL) has addressed the shortage of nurses by designating professional nursing as a Schedule 
A occupation, indicating that there are insufficient U.S. workers able, willing, qualified, and available for professional 
2 
shortage of 5,000 nurses but does not specify how, as one nurse, she would impact this shortage on a 
level rising to national importance. The Petitioner has not submitted sufficient evidence to 
demonstrate how her proposed endeavor's impact would extend beyond her employer and patients to 
the field of nursing or the nation as a whole. Similar concerns apply to the Petitioner's contention that 
her work as a professor of nursing will help increase enrollment in nursing schools since that 
enrollment is limited by lack of qualified faculty. 
Finally, while we acknowledge the statistics the Petitioner provided about the economic benefits of 
healthcare and nursing as a profession, she 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 as contemplated by Dhanasar. Id. at 890. Accordingly, the 
Petitioner's proposed endeavor does not meet the first prong of the Dhanasar framework. 
The Petitioner's descriptions of her endeavor and its importance emphasize her years of professional 
experience, as well as her skills, training and accomplishments. However, these factors speak to the 
second prong of the Dhanasar test, which is concerned with the Petitioner's ability to advance the 
proposed endeavor. The Petitioner's abilities as a nurse do not establish that her endeavor's impact 
would rise to the level of national importance. 
Because the Petitioner has not established her eligibility under the first prong of the Dhanasar test, we 
need not address her eligibility under the second2 and third prongs, and we hereby reserve these issues. 
See INS v. Bagamasbad, 429 U.S. 24, 25 (1976) ("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). The Petitioner has not established that she should be granted a 
waiver of the job offer requirement in the exercise of discretion. The petition will remain denied. 
ORDER: The appeal is dismissed. 
nursing pos1t10ns. 20 C.F.R. §§ 656.5, 656.15. See generally 6 USC1S Policy Manual, supra at E.7(C). This exempts 
U.S. employers of noncitizen nurses from having to test the labor market and apply to DOL for a permanent labor 
certification. 20 C.F.R. § 656.15. However, this is not a waiver of the job offer requirement, and as such does not support 
a finding that working as a nurse inherently has national importance in the context of a national interest waiver petition. 
2 We note that the Petitioner has not provided any evidence that she is licensed to practice nursing in the United States. If 
a nursing license is required to practice her proposed endeavor, the licensure is relevant under prong two of the Dhanasar 
analysis and the Petitioner should present evidence of her nursing license in any future filing. 
3