The Petitioner, a Brazilian nurse with 20+ years of experience, sought to establish a U.S. home health care company projected to generate over $1.8 million in fifth-year revenue and employ 11 professionals.

Prong 1 — national importancenot established · dispositive

“the record does not indicate the business's potential to substantially boost the economy nationally or regionally”

“The Petitioner's evidence, however, does not sufficiently indicate that her proposed business would have national implications.”

“The Petitioner's projection of 74 indirect jobs, however, contradicts another statement she makes.”

“the Petitioner has not demonstrated that venture would impact her field or the economy "more broadly."”

AAO decision text

How the evidence was treated

• business plan · discounted

  “We therefore will not consider the business plan's full English version.”

  AAO decision text
• citations publications · credited
• degree · credited
• resume experience · credited
• recommendation letter · 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

Notable

The AAO found substantial merit established (crediting nursing shortage and aging population evidence) but found national importance unmet, applying Dhanasar's own STEM-teaching example as an analogy. It also rejected the Petitioner's arguments that alignment with 2022 USCIS entrepreneur guidance and a presidential SBA budget proposal established national importance, and noted an internal inconsistency in her indirect-job creation math (claimed 74 indirect jobs vs. her own stated ratio yielding ~10).

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 L-A-C-

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