The Petitioner sought to work as a Chief Executive through his own registered U.S. IT consulting company, developing IT teams and systems to improve business productivity and efficiency for client companies.

Prong 1 — national importancenot established · dispositive

“the Petitioner must demonstrate the national importance of his specific, proposed endeavor of being a Chief Executive in the IT consulting sector”

“The record does not show through supporting documentation how his endeavor sufficiently extends beyond his prospective customers, to impact the field or the U.S. economy more broadly at a level commensurate with national importance.”

“the Petitioner did not provide evidence showing that Florida is an economically depressed area where the potential creation of 36 jobs would trigger "substantial positive economic effects" as required”

“the Petitioner did not demonstrate how his business plan's claimed employment and tax projections, even if credible or plausible, have significant potential to employ U.S. workers or otherwise offers substantial positive economic effects for our nation”

“the record does not establish that, beyond the limited benefits provided to its prospective clients and employees, the Petitioner's proposed endeavor has broader implications rising to the level of having national importance”

AAO decision text

How the evidence was treated

• business plan · discounted

  “the Petitioner did not demonstrate that such future staffing levels would provide substantial economic benefits ... at a level commensurate with national importance”

  AAO decision text
• other · discounted

  “The Petitioner's arguments and evidence relate to the substantial merit aspect of the proposed endeavor rather than the national importance part.”

  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

The Petitioner's argument that locating the company in a Small Business Administration HUBZone supported national importance was rejected because HUBZone eligibility requires majority U.S.-citizen ownership, which the wholly foreign-owned company did not meet; the AAO called this argument 'wholly irrelevant' to national importance.

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.

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

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