This is an AAO appeal decision — a case denied once and appealed. It shows how the framework is applied; it is not the filing population.
The Petitioner sought to operate a self-employed consulting business focused on establishing and optimizing business development strategies and expanding businesses globally through foreign trade, including import/export support in the automation and electronic security sector.
Field: business development/foreign trade consulting, automation and electronic security · Read the decision (uscis.gov)
EB-2 threshold — addressed
Director found Petitioner qualified as an advanced degree professional; not disputed on appeal.
Prong 1 — national importancenot established · dispositive
“the Petitioner has not demonstrated that his proposed endeavor offers broader implications in his field or substantial positive economic effects for the country that rise to the level of national importance.”
“his proposed endeavor "stands to sufficiently extend beyond an organization and the clients [he] would serve to impact the industry or field more broadly."”
“the Petitioner did not provide additional insight in response to the Director's finding that the proposed endeavor does not have significant potential to employ U.S. workers or otherwise offers substantial positive economic effects for the country.”
AAO decision text
How the evidence was treated
- business plan · discounted
“has not demonstrated that his proposed endeavor offers broader implications in his field or substantial positive economic effects”
AAO decision text - recommendation letter · ignored
- other · discounted
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
- Local, not national scope · p1 — impact confined to clients / a region
Notable
AAO used 'adopt and affirm' approach citing Matter of Burbano and circuit case law, explicitly affirming the Director's rationale rather than fully independently restating it; declined to reach prongs 2 and 3 as unnecessary.
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
- Chen v. INS
- Matter of L-A-C-
- Poursina v. USCIS
What this case teaches
Analyst reading of the decision text.
The business-intelligence consultancy's claimed national benefits rested on generic help-businesses-grow reasoning; AAO adopted the Director's finding that nothing extended beyond the organization and clients served, failing prong one.
Jobs-taxes-economy claims attached to a client-service consultancy are the weakest form of national-importance argument; without evidence of field-level impact, the endeavor stays bounded to its clients.
vague
economic_growth_generic · economic_job_creation
person_focused
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