The petitioner, an attorney, proposed to provide legal and consulting services in international law, dispute resolution, and investment arbitration, and to lead an organization/platform offering legal assistance, educational resources, and advocacy.

Prong 1 — national importancenot established · dispositive

“the evidence does not demonstrate that the potential prospective impact of his specific proposed endeavor of providing legal services meets the national importance requirement.”

“Dhanasar requires us to focus on the "the specific endeavor that the foreign national proposes to undertake," not the importance of the field, industry, or profession.”

“the record in its totality does not show through supporting documentation how the Petitioner's specific services would sufficiently advance the field more broadly and extend beyond his prospective clients”

AAO decision text

How the evidence was treated

• recommendation letter · discounted
• business plan · discounted
• resume experience · discounted
• motion resubmission · discounted

  “the newly submitted evidence did not overcome the deficiencies noted in the denial and did not establish eligibility for a national interest waiver.”

  AAO decision text

Where this case turned

• Economic claims unsupported · p1 — job/revenue projections with no corroborating basis
• Endeavor too vague · p1 — described as a job role, not a defined undertaking
• Field importance conflated with endeavor · p1 — argues the field matters, not the specific endeavor

Notable

The decision refers generically to 'SCOPS' (Service Center Operations) rather than naming a specific service center, and the petitioner is himself an attorney; the AAO expressly declined to reach prongs two and three after finding prong one dispositive, citing Bagamasbad and L-A-C-.

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
• Flores v. Garland
• Matter of L-A-C-

Cases in adjacent profiles

• The Petitioner proposed to work as an IT consultant in the United States, providing cybersecurity and digital transforma
• The petitioner proposed to establish his own company providing specialized business consultancy, auditing, and training
• The petitioner proposed to work as a consultant engineer through his own company, specializing in development projects t
• The Petitioner proposed to start a project management consultancy in the United States that would help small and mid-siz
• The Petitioner proposed to establish a legal consultancy in the United States focused on alternative dispute resolution