The Petitioner proposed to operate a language services company in Florida offering Portuguese and other language instruction, translation, interpretation, and related consulting services to businesses, schools, hospitals, and international trade companies.

Prong 1 — national importancenot established · dispositive

“the matter here is not whether these initiatives, as well as the topics of international trade and language teaching, translation, and interpretation, are nationally important”

“the Petitioner did not demonstrate how her business would largely influence the field and rise to the level of national importance”

“the Petitioner did not present any supporting evidence, corroborating the assertions and figures”

“the record does not demonstrate 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 present any supporting evidence, corroborating the assertions and figures”

  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

Petitioner shifted her business plan mid-case from teaching only Portuguese to a broader multi-language translation/interpretation/training company; AAO treated revenue and job-creation projections ($755K-$8.5M revenue, 60+ jobs) as unsubstantiated speculation. AAO expressly declined to reach prongs 2 and 3, stating dismissal on prong 1 is an independent and alternate basis.

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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