dismissedOCT032025_01B52032025-10-03 · appeal
This is an AAO appeal decision — a case denied once and appealed. It shows how the framework is applied; it is not the filing population.
The petitioner proposed to run a consulting initiative providing training, mentorship, and business consulting services to self-employed entrepreneurs and small/medium businesses in rural, low-income areas of Florida, aiming to stimulate local economic development.
Field: small business / entrepreneurship consulting · Read the decision (uscis.gov)
Prong 1 — national importancenot established · dispositive
“This material, however, does not provide sufficient insight into the Petitioner's business plans or how his specific endeavor would have a potential prospective impact of national importance.”
“The Petitioner did not, however, provide a sufficient basis for these projections, nor are the numbers corroborated by probative evidence”
“the Petitioner did not specifically describe how he would undertake an endeavor of a scale that would reach the level of "substantial positive economic effects" contemplated by Dhanasar.”
“the importance of the Petitioner's business endeavor cannot be established based solely on its general relationship to business sectors recognized as one of many sectors of importance within the national economy”
“The Petitioner has not demonstrated that his proposed endeavor has significant potential to employ U.S. workers or otherwise offer substantial positive economic effects for the nation.”
AAO decision text
How the evidence was treated
- business plan · discounted
“does not provide sufficient insight into the Petitioner's business plans or how his specific endeavor would have a potential prospective impact of national importance”
AAO decision text - recommendation letter · discounted
“the letters do not sufficiently demonstrate the national importance of the Petitioner's proposed endeavor”
AAO decision text - funding · discounted
“evidence of investment interest ... generally relates not to the national importance of an endeavor ... but to the second [prong]”
AAO decision text - other · discounted
“material tangentially related to establishing a business offering consultancy services, such as articles discussing business statistics and the U.S. economy”
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
- 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
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Notable
AAO cites USCIS Policy Manual entrepreneur-specific guidance (F.5(D)(6)) to reject broad economic-benefit and job-creation assertions as insufficient for entrepreneurs specifically; also analogizes the petitioner's knowledge-transmission-to-clients model to Dhanasar's own teaching-activity discussion to find no broader field impact.
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
- Flores v. Garland
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