dismissedJUN092025_01B52032025-06-09 · appeal
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, an entrepreneur and fitness trainer, sought to continue as CEO of her company Wellness Strength, offering fitness optimization advice, business development, and strategic planning services to U.S. companies.
Field: health and wellness/fitness consulting · Read the decision (uscis.gov)
Prong 1 — national importancenot established · dispositive
“The record does not show a sufficiently direct connection between the proposed activities and a sufficiently broad impact.”
“did not "offer any details showing their basis or an explanation as to how they will be realized,"”
“a field's importance cannot be conflated with its national importance, as the focus is on "the specific endeavor"”
“The Petitioner has not sufficiently demonstrated the national importance of her proposed endeavor based on its impact on the U.S. economy or potential for job creation.”
AAO decision text
How the evidence was treated
- business plan · discounted
“did not offer any details showing their basis or an explanation as to how they will be realized”
AAO decision text - other · discounted
“a field's importance cannot be conflated with its national importance”
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
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Notable
AAO explicitly 'adopted and affirmed' SCOPS' first-prong analysis rather than conducting independent de novo reasoning, and declined to reach prongs 2 and 3 even though SCOPS itself had found those prongs satisfied, since the national-importance failure alone was dispositive.
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
- Flores v. Garland
- Matter of L-A-C-
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