The Petitioner proposed to own and operate an 'Immigrants Entrepreneurship Support Solutions Office' in Virginia, providing personal and business consulting/advisory services and immigration consultancy to immigrants, particularly Latin-American immigrants.

Prong 1 — national importancenot established · dispositive

“This stated "focus on .. .I I would tend to limit the wider impact of the proposed endeavor.”

“The Petitioner did not show that the aggregate benefit to individual clients would have national importance.”

“The cited figure of 29 jobs appears to be a rough estimate based on "multipliers" averaged from all "[p]rofessional, scientific, and technical services," rather than any specific analysis”

“General statements about a particular field do not establish the national importance of the work of one individual in that field.”

“The description of the proposed endeavor in the advisory letter is significantly different from the Petitioner's own description.”

AAO decision text

Prong 2 — well positionednot established

“The Petitioner, however, claims no prior experience or training in U.S. immigration law.”

“The Petitioner has not established that she has education, skills, knowledge and a record of success in efforts related or similar to immigration consulting.”

“The Petitioner has submitted a business plan, but she has not shown progress toward implementing the plan or otherwise achieving the proposed endeavor”

“Therefore, this certification cannot establish eligibility at the time she filed the petition, as required by 8 C.F.R. § 103.2(b)(1).”

“Here, the Petitioner has not shown a past record of entrepreneurial achievements.”

AAO decision text

How the evidence was treated

• recommendation letter · discounted

  “The description of the proposed endeavor in the advisory letter is significantly different from the Petitioner's own description.”

  AAO decision text
• business plan · discounted

  “she has not shown progress toward implementing the plan or otherwise achieving the proposed endeavor”

  AAO decision text
• certification membership · discounted

  “this certification cannot establish eligibility at the time she filed the petition”

  AAO decision text
• other · discounted

  “General statements about a particular field do not establish the national importance of the work of one individual in that field.”

  AAO decision text
• resume experience · discounted

  “The Petitioner has not established that she has education, skills, knowledge and a record of success”

  AAO decision text

Where this case turned

• 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
• Letters not independent · p1 — letters come from employers and close collaborators, not independent experts
• Local, not national scope · p1 — impact confined to clients / a region
• Business plan speculative · p2 — projections without a documented basis or steps
• certification membership · p2 — certifications or memberships offered as proof of standing
• Education alone insufficient · p2 — degrees offered as positioning — credentials are not a track record
• No progress evidence · p2 — no documented movement toward the endeavor since filing
• Record of success insufficient · p2 — a claimed track record the documents do not establish

Notable

AAO withdrew the Director's favorable findings on both national importance's neighbor prong (well positioned) sua sponte, even though only national importance had been denied below; discrepancy between initial 29 indirect jobs estimate and later NOID response of ~10 jobs (about a third) was highlighted as an unresolved inconsistency undermining credibility.

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. 103.2(b)(1)
• 8 C.F.R. 103.3
• Matter of L-A-C-

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