The Petitioner sought to establish an early childhood education and special education consulting business in underserved Florida communities, providing curriculum development, teacher training/mentoring, and behavioral counseling for young children, with future plans to expand to other U.S. cities.

Prong 1 — national importancenot established · dispositive

“The record does not demonstrate that her proposed endeavor has the potential to extend beyond her business and her future clients to impact her field, the U.S. economy, social welfare, or nationally important matters more broadly”

“the shortage of qualified workers in an industry of importance is not sufficient to meet the national importance requirement under the Dhanasar framework”

“The industry reports and articles, however, do not discuss any projected U.S. economic or social welfare impact specifically attributable to the Petitioner's proposed endeavor.”

“The record, however, does not sufficiently detail the basis for its financial and staffing projections, or adequately explain how these projections will be realized.”

“merely working in the early childhood education and special education fields or starting an early childhood education and special education consulting business...is insufficient to establish the national importance”

AAO decision text

How the evidence was treated

• business plan · discounted

  “the record does not sufficiently detail the basis for its financial and staffing projections, or adequately explain how these projections will be realized”

  AAO decision text
• recommendation letter · discounted

  “general assertions that the proposed business would have economic benefits for the United States without providing a credible basis for these assertions”

  AAO decision text
• other · discounted

  “their overall significance does not establish the national importance of the Petitioner's proposed endeavor in particular”

  AAO decision text
• degree · credited

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
• Occupational shortage argument rejected · p1 — argues a labor shortage — the labor-certification question, not Dhanasar

Notable

AAO explicitly rejected Petitioner's argument that SCOPS erred by not addressing every document, citing multiple circuit court cases on 'reasoned consideration' standard rather than requiring point-by-point analysis. AAO also clarified that an opinion letter's focus on Petitioner's personal knowledge/experience was misplaced under prong 1, as that properly belongs to prong 2 analysis.

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.

• Flores v. Garland
• Matter of E-M-
• Matter of L-A-C-

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