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, a Brazilian entrepreneur with over 20 years of experience in the retail flower industry, proposed to provide expert business, management, and operational consulting services to U.S. companies, particularly those doing business internationally.
Field: retail flower industry / entrepreneurship and business consulting · Read the decision (uscis.gov)
EB-2 threshold — addressed
Director found, and AAO did not disturb, that Petitioner qualified as an advanced degree professional via bachelor's degree plus five years of progressive experience.
Prong 1 — national importancenot established · dispositive
“The Director concluded that the Petitioner did not submit "a detailed description of the proposed endeavor" and we agree.”
“The Petitioner did not identify a particular type or size of company he intends to target as a provider of "expert service," nor did he indicate in what industry sector or geographic region he intends to work.”
“The Director correctly determined that, despite mentioning job creation as a potential impact of his proposed endeavor, the Petitioner did not provide information and evidence to illustrate the number of individuals he expects any proposed new business to hire, train and support.”
“As the Petitioner did not submit a business plan or otherwise specify the type of endeavor he intends to pursue as an entrepreneur in the United States, he did not support his assertion that his endeavor would be "national in scope"”
AAO decision text
How the evidence was treated
- business plan · discounted
“he did not state or submit evidence that he has established, or has specific plans to establish, his own company in the United States”
AAO decision text - recommendation letter · discounted
“we are unable to determine the accuracy or reliability of the evaluator's description of the proposed endeavor”
AAO decision text - other · discounted
“he did not address how his endeavor would have "substantial positive economic effects" based on job creation”
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
- Endeavor too vague · p1 — described as a job role, not a defined undertaking
- Local, not national scope · p1 — impact confined to clients / a region
Notable
AAO addressed and rejected a procedural due-process argument that the Director should have issued an RFE/NOID before denial, citing USCIS discretion under the Policy Manual and 8 C.F.R. 103.2(b)(8)(iii). AAO also declined to credit an expert 'advisory evaluation' because its description of the proposed endeavor did not match the petitioner's own professional plan, suggesting it was based on different underlying documents.
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. 204.5(k)(2)
- Matter of Caron Int'l
- Matter of L-A-C-
- Poursina v. USCIS
What this case teaches
Analyst reading of the decision text.
Petitioner failed to describe a specific proposed endeavor (no business plan, industry, or region) or provide evidence of its scale, so national importance under prong 1 was unmet; mismatched advisory opinion discounted.
Define a concrete, specific business/endeavor with a business plan and quantified projected impact (jobs, revenue, region) to establish national importance, not generic economic-benefit rhetoric.
vague
economic_job_creation · economic_growth_generic · us_competitiveness
person_focused
Cases in adjacent profiles
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- The Petitioner proposed to operate a medical billing and healthcare revenue cycle management firm in the United States,
- The Petitioner proposed to establish and lead as CEO a cybersecurity and crisis management company in Florida, offering
- The Petitioner proposed to establish and operate an IT consultancy company in Michigan providing cloud migration, cybers