The Petitioner, an automotive service technician with over ten years of experience, proposed to establish his own automotive repair and maintenance company offering preventative maintenance, EV/hybrid services, advanced technician training programs, and fleet maintenance, with a stated mission to modernize the U.S. automotive service industry through technology-driven solutions.

Prong 1 — national importancenot established · dispositive

“the record does not illustrate how his specific endeavor would sufficiently extend beyond his company, clients, and the individuals he trains to impact the industry, region, or nation more broadly”

“the Petitioner's work in an important industry or sector, even one that is the subject of national priorities, is not sufficient, in and of itself, to establish the national importance of the proposed endeavor”

“neither business plan explains how these forecasts were calculated, or adequately clarifies how these projections will be realized”

“General conclusory statements without a sufficiently direct evidentiary tie between the proposed endeavor and the claimed impacts are insufficient”

“these letters are of limited probative value in determining the endeavor's national importance”

AAO decision text

How the evidence was treated

• business plan · discounted

  “neither business plan explains how these forecasts were calculated, or adequately clarifies how these projections will be realized”

  AAO decision text
• recommendation letter · discounted

  “they are largely conclusory and do not offer an evidentiary basis for their claims”

  AAO decision text
• media · discounted

  “they do not establish how his future work would impact these areas more broadly”

  AAO decision text
• resume experience · 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
• Letters conclusory · p1 — letters praise skills in general terms without tracing specific impact
• Local, not national scope · p1 — impact confined to clients / a region

Notable

AAO explicitly reserved both the EB-2 threshold (exceptional ability) and NIW prongs 2 and 3 under Bagamasbad, deciding solely on prong 1 national importance. The decision draws a direct analogy to Dhanasar's classroom-teacher example to reject the training-program argument. The Petitioner submitted two materially different business plans (initial and RFE-response), with the updated plan projecting significantly higher figures; the AAO noted the discrepancy and found neither plan adequately supported. SCOPS had actually found substantial merit under prong 1 but denied national importance; AAO agreed with that split finding.

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