The Petitioner proposed to establish and manage a Family Center providing counseling, therapy, and spiritual guidance to the elderly, children, adolescents, and families, addressing issues such as substance abuse, mental health, depression, and divorce.

Prong 1 — national importancenot established · dispositive

“the record does not adequately show through supporting documentation, how the Petitioner's business and services stand to sufficiently extend beyond his prospective clients and families to impact the industry or the U.S. economy more broadly”

“the Petitioner must establish the national importance of his business rather than the importance of family counseling services and entrepreneurship”

“Without sufficient evidence regarding the projected U.S. economic impact or job creation directly attributable to his future work, the record does not show that benefits to the regional or national economy resulting from the Petitioner's endeavor would reach the level of "substantial positive economic effects"”

AAO decision text

How the evidence was treated

• business plan · discounted

  “constituted an impermissible material change to his proposed endeavor”

  AAO decision text
• other · ignored

  “generally reiterates the benefits of his profession and his qualifications... does not provide any new evidence or arguments”

  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
• Endeavor too vague · p1 — described as a job role, not a defined undertaking
• Field importance conflated with endeavor · p1 — argues the field matters, not the specific endeavor

Notable

AAO adopted and affirmed the Director's decision under Matter of Burbano rather than conducting fully independent analysis; also notes the Director found a material change in the endeavor via the post-filing business plan, though the AAO's dismissal rests on prong 1 national importance rather than the material-change issue itself.

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
• Chen v. INS
• Flores v. Garland
• Matter of Izummi
• Matter of L-A-C-

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