The Petitioner, an economist, established an educational consulting company in Texas to provide university admission and other educational services to prospective Nigerian students seeking to study in the United States.

Prong 1 — national importancenot established · dispositive

“the prospective impact of his endeavor did not support a finding of national importance”

“the evidence does not demonstrate that his educational consulting services offer benefits that extend beyond his company to impact the field of educational consulting services more broadly”

“the record does not include evidence demonstrating that the Petitioner's work toward bringing more Nigerian international students to study in the United States stands to have positive effects that reach beyond his educational consulting company”

AAO decision text

How the evidence was treated

• other · discounted

  “these arguments show the substantial merit of the Petitioner's proposed endeavor, but they are not sufficient to demonstrate that his specific educational consulting activities have national importance”

  AAO decision text

Where this case turned

• Economic claims unsupported · p1 — job/revenue projections with no corroborating basis
• Local, not national scope · p1 — impact confined to clients / a region

Notable

This is a motion to reconsider following a prior dismissed appeal; the AAO's review is limited to whether its own prior decision was legally correct on the existing record, not a fresh merits review. The petitioner improperly attempted to file jointly with his company, which lacked standing as an affected party (footnote 1). The AAO relies on its own prior appellate decision (incorporated by reference) as the basis for denial rather than newly analyzing evidence.

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
• 8 C.F.R. 103.5

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