The Petitioner, an Oracle Techno-Functional Consultant, proposed to work in the U.S. providing Oracle ERP, database, and HCM system services, and, per a business plan submitted on RFE, to found a SaaS and systems-integration company serving small and medium-sized businesses in Texas.

Prong 1 — national importancenot established · dispositive

“These projections do not indicate that the Petitioner's company has significant potential to employ U.S. workers, even in an economically depressed area.”

“This amount of profit does not indicate that the Petitioner's company would have substantial positive economic effects on a level indicative of national importance.”

“The Petitioner also does not explain how his company's work would extend beyond its individual clients to impact his field more broadly in a manner commensurate with national importance.”

“the Petitioner's support letters are insufficient to establish the national importance of his proposed endeavor.”

“our assessment of national importance does not focus on the importance of an industry or issues affecting an industry in general, but instead "focuses on the specific endeavor that the foreign national proposes to undertake."”

AAO decision text

How the evidence was treated

• recommendation letter · discounted

  “does not indicate that the Petitioner's work would extend beyond his company's clients to impact his field more broadly in a manner commensurate with national importance”

  AAO decision text
• business plan · discounted

  “These projections do not indicate that the Petitioner's company has significant potential to employ U.S. workers, even in an economically depressed area.”

  AAO decision text
• degree · credited
• 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

The Petitioner submitted a letter from a U.S. Small Business Administration Senior Economist attesting to the national economic importance of his company; the AAO nonetheless found the economist's letter failed to reconcile its broad claims with the business plan's modest 15-employee, $109,771 third-year profit projections.

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
• INA 203(b)(2)

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