The Petitioner, a legal consultant with ten years of experience, planned to found and serve as general manager of her own consulting company in Florida, providing legal and business consulting services to U.S. companies entering or operating in the Brazilian market.

Prong 1 — national importancenot established · dispositive

“The Petitioner's proposed endeavor of founding a legal and business consulting company appears to benefit the Petitioner, as the company's owner, and the individuals and entities who may use the company's services as customers and clients.”

“the Petitioner's references to abstract importation and exportation, tax revenue, and unspecified job creation rely on more generalizations about the results of typical business activity”

“whether a petitioner qualifies as a member of the professions with an advanced degree in science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM) does not alter the analysis of whether a proposed endeavor may have national importance”

“The record does not establish how the Petitioner's self-employment as her own company's general manager may mitigate a need for general managers among other employers in Florida, urgent or otherwise.”

“The record does not establish how the Petitioners plan to employ a total of eight workers, including herself, in the job positions noted above, in the Florida, area, demonstrates the proposed endeavor may have a significant potential to employ U.S. workers”

AAO decision text

How the evidence was treated

• business plan · discounted

  “The record does not establish how the Petitioners plan to employ a total of eight workers ... demonstrates the proposed endeavor may have ... substantial positive economic effects.”

  AAO decision text
• recommendation letter · ignored

  “The Petitioner also references information unrelated to whether the proposed endeavor may have national importance, such as her qualifications and letters of interest from prospective clients.”

  AAO decision text
• other · discounted

  “the generalized information regarding management consulting and data related to trade between the United States and Brazil ... does not inform how the proposed endeavor may have 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
• Employer-specific benefit · p1 — "work furthers my company's product" — value accrues to one firm
• Field importance conflated with endeavor · p1 — argues the field matters, not the specific endeavor
• Occupational shortage argument rejected · p1 — argues a labor shortage — the labor-certification question, not Dhanasar

Notable

The AAO rejected the Petitioner's argument that STEM classification alters the national importance analysis, and sharply criticized her claim of an 'urgent need' for general managers as a need she herself created by founding the company to employ herself.

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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