This is an AAO appeal decision — a case denied once and appealed. It shows how the framework is applied; it is not the filing population.
The Petitioner sought to continue operating her Florida-based company selling Brazilian food products and providing event-planning services, with plans to franchise the supermarket to other Florida towns.
Field: ethnic supermarket / event planning business · Read the decision (uscis.gov)
EB-2 threshold — addressed
AAO agreed with the Director that the Petitioner established EB-2 eligibility as an advanced degree professional; only the waiver was at issue.
Prong 1 — national importancenot established · dispositive
“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.”
“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.”
“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”
“her projections and current sales are insufficient, without more, to establish that her endeavor will have substantial positive economic effects at a level commensurate with national importance.”
AAO decision text
How the evidence was treated
- business plan · discounted
“the business plan does not sufficiently detail the basis for the revenue and staffing projections”
AAO decision text - recommendation letter · discounted
“the opinion does not help to establish the national importance of her proposed endeavor”
AAO decision text - contract revenue · discounted
“her projections and current sales are insufficient, without more, to establish that her endeavor will have substantial positive economic effects”
AAO decision text
Where this case turned
- Business plan speculative · p1 — projections without a documented basis or steps
- Economic claims unsupported · p1 — job/revenue projections with no corroborating basis
- Field importance conflated with endeavor · p1 — argues the field matters, not the specific endeavor
- Local, not national scope · p1 — impact confined to clients / a region
Notable
AAO noted in a footnote that it could not address the Petitioner's repeated references to 'depressive areas' because the phrase's meaning was unclear, citing typos and lack of clarity in her filings. The Director also found the endeavor initially described was limited to event planning, not supermarket ownership, an issue the AAO expressly reserved without resolving.
Authorities this decision leans on
From the doctrinal survivor set — 187 authority tests across 47 distinct authorities cleared the differential-lift gates. Only those appear here.
- 8 C.F.R. 103.3
- 8 C.F.R. 204.5(k)(2)
- Matter of L-A-C-
- USCIS Policy Manual F.5(D)(1)
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