The petitioner, a sustainability specialist, proposed a multi-year 'strategic plan' involving employment with two private Florida companies, networking, and further education (including a future PhD), ultimately culminating in employment with a Florida government entity to implement sustainability policy.

Prong 1 — national importancenot established · dispositive

“we are unable to determine the exact nature of the proposed endeavor, which includes both pursuing a university degree and seeking future employment with multiple entities”

“it is not apparent what he intends to do at any level of his plan, nor is it explained what the proposed endeavor itself is”

“General assertions of economic impact are not sufficient to establish the actual potential economic impact of the proposed endeavor.”

“the Petitioner has not presented evidence of any potential benefits to the regional or national economies resulting from his undertaking”

AAO decision text

How the evidence was treated

• business plan · discounted

  “Although he has outlined the steps of his proposed endeavor in his strategic plan, the actual specifics of that endeavor are not clear.”

  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

Notable

The proposed endeavor was itself a multi-stage, years-long career plan (private employment -> further education -> eventual government job), which the AAO found made the 'exact nature' of the endeavor indeterminable; petitioner's own appellate framing (that a 'detailed breakdown' of long-term plans should establish national importance) was rejected as insufficiently specific rather than because the plan was speculative in the business-plan sense.

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
• Matter of L-A-C-

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