The Petitioner, a financial manager, initially proposed to work for one of four U.S. companies that had offered him positions, then revised the endeavor into starting his own financial management consulting firm serving small and medium-sized businesses.

Prong 1 — national importancenot established · dispositive

“any benefit or influence, such that it is, would apply mainly only to those small businesses that work directly with the Petitioner”

“shortages of able, willing, qualified, and available U.S. workers are addressed through the U.S. Department of Labor's labor certification process”

“it is not clear from the record how this job creation for the proposed endeavor itself would have a substantial prospective positive economic effect commensurate with national importance”

“the letter does not provide any meaningful analysis of the endeavor's broader implications or potential prospective economic impact rising to the level of national importance”

AAO decision text

Prong 2 — well positionednot established · dispositive

“the record does not reflect any progress to achieving the proposed endeavor other than registering their company”

“The establishment of their company alone is not strong evidence of progress”

“the recommendation letters the Petitioner submitted are not material, relevant, or probative evidence in the record of interest or support in the endeavor”

AAO decision text

How the evidence was treated

• business plan · discounted

  “it is not clear from the record how this job creation for the proposed endeavor itself would have a substantial prospective positive economic effect commensurate with national importance”

  AAO decision text
• recommendation letter · discounted

  “the letter does not provide any meaningful analysis of the endeavor's broader implications or potential prospective economic impact rising to the level of national importance”

  AAO decision text
• resume experience · discounted

  “the record does not reflect how the Petitioner's prior performance of the duties described in the experience letters is either a similar effort as that of their proposed endeavor or how it constitutes a record of success”

  AAO decision text
• other · discounted

  “shortages of able, willing, qualified, and available U.S. workers are addressed through the U.S. Department of Labor's labor certification process”

  AAO decision text
• contract revenue · discounted

  “the Petitioner's proposed endeavor was essentially a job search... the purpose of a national interest waiver is not to facilitate a petitioner's U.S. job search”

  AAO decision text

Where this case turned

• Economic claims unsupported · p1 — job/revenue projections with no corroborating basis
• Letters conclusory · p1 — letters praise skills in general terms without tracing specific impact
• 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
• Letters not independent · p2 — letters come from employers and close collaborators, not independent experts
• No progress evidence · p2 — no documented movement toward the endeavor since filing
• Record of success insufficient · p2 — a claimed track record the documents do not establish

Notable

The AAO withdrew the Director's favorable finding on prong two (well positioned) even though the Director had only denied on prong one, treating both prong one and prong two as separately and jointly dispositive. The decision has unusual stylistic markers (repeated use of 'Whilst') and OCR redaction artifacts for a cited expert's name and academic institution.

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 Caron Int'l
• Matter of Izummi
• Matter of Katigbak
• Matter of L-A-C-
• Matter of Y-B-

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