The Petitioner, an agricultural engineer, proposed a project to strengthen soft skills and social capital based on biblical values among Latin immigrant Christian communities in rural and peri-urban U.S. areas, including conducting twelve training workshops for trainers.

Prong 1 — national importancenot established · dispositive

“Without independent evidence to support her claim, the Petitioner has not demonstrated that her specific proposed endeavor has significant potential to employ U.S. workers”

“Here, none of the articles mention the Petitioner or her plan, or otherwise address the potential prospective impact of her proposed endeavor.”

“The Petitioner does not specify how she would reach 70,000 people initially through her proposed twelve training workshops or other means”

“the Petitioner has not established that her proposed endeavor would sufficiently extend beyond her individual trainees to impact the field of soft skills and social capital more broadly at a level commensurate with national importance”

AAO decision text

How the evidence was treated

• business plan · discounted

  “Subsequent material changes to a petition cannot be considered.”

  AAO decision text
• recommendation letter · discounted

  “did not specifically address the Petitioner's proposed endeavor or any broader implications of the Petitioner's work in her field”

  AAO decision text
• media · discounted

  “none of the articles mention the Petitioner or her plan, or otherwise address the potential prospective impact of her proposed endeavor”

  AAO decision text

Where this case turned

• 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
• Local, not national scope · p1 — impact confined to clients / a region

Notable

The Petitioner submitted a substantially revised 'personal plan' in response to the RFE, changing target groups, partners, and methods from a faith-based soft-skills project to an agricultural-ethics initiative; AAO treated this as an impermissible material change under Matter of Izummi and evaluated eligibility only under the original, less-developed plan.

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. 103.2(b)(1)
• 8 C.F.R. 103.3
• Flores v. Garland
• Matter of Izummi
• Matter of Katigbak
• Matter of L-A-C-

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