The Petitioner sought to run a Florida-based consulting company providing advisory services to homebuilding businesses, specializing in affordable housing and environmentally sustainable construction projects.

Prong 1 — national importancenot established · dispositive

“the Petitioner has not established that the creation of six jobs in five years would result in the type of "substantial positive economic effects" that are required for national importance.”

“the evidence in the record does not quantify the claimed indirect economic impacts of the company or otherwise establish that they would be substantial.”

“the Petitioner does not credibly explain how the Petitioner's construction consulting business would address or impact these issues in a manner that rises to the level of national importance.”

“in determining whether a proposed endeavor has national importance, the relevant question is not the importance of the industry, field, or profession in which an individual will work”

AAO decision text

How the evidence was treated

• degree · discounted

  “a lato sensu course certificate is not necessarily evidence of completion of a graduate degree program”

  AAO decision text
• resume experience · credited
• recommendation letter · credited
• business plan · discounted

  “has not established that the creation of six jobs in five years would result in the type of "substantial positive economic effects" that are required for national importance”

  AAO decision text
• other · discounted

  “the evidence is cumulative of the articles and reports already in the record that relate to affordable housing and sustainable construction in general”

  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 relied on AACRAO EDGE database to distinguish Brazilian 'lato sensu' certificates from graduate degrees, finding the MBA certificate insufficient though the underlying bachelor's-plus-experience pathway still satisfied EB-2 threshold.

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-
• Poursina v. USCIS

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