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 ofLabor (DOL)-ifpetitioners 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.
Law
To establish eligibility for national interest waivers, petitioners must first demonstrate their qualifications for the EB-2 category, either as members ofthe professions holding "advanced degrees" or their equivalents, or as noncitizens of"exceptional ability" in the sciences, arts, or business. Section 203(b )(2)(A) ofthe Act. To protect the jobs ofU.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.
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"). p. 3 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 ofDhanasar, 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 ofthe 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. p. 4 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."No broader implications shown 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 ofthe 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 ofnational 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 ofDhanasar, 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." p. 5 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).
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.