The Petitioner, a research scientist in the field of artificial intelligence, seeks employment-based second preference (EB-2) immigrant classification as a member of the professions holding an advanced degree, as well as a national interest waiver of the job offer requirement attached to this classification. See Immigration and Nationality Act (the Act) section 203(b)(2), 8 U.S.C. § l 153(b)(2).
SCOPS denied the petition, concluding that the Petitioner qualified for classification as a member of the professions holding an advanced degree, but that he had not established that a waiver of the required job offer, and thus of the labor certification, would be in the national interest. The matter is now before us on appeal pursuant to 8 C.F.R. § 103.3.
The Petitioner bears the burden ofproofto demonstrate eligibility by a preponderance of the evidence. Matter ofChawathe, 25 l&N Dec. 369, 375-76 (AAO 2010). We review the questions in this matter de novo. Matter of Christo 's, Inc., 26 I&N Dec. 537, 537 n.2 (AAO 2015). Upon de novo review, we will sustain the appeal.
Law
To qualify for the underlying EB-2 visa classification, a petitioner must establish they are an advanced degree professional or an individual of exceptional ability in the sciences, arts, or business. Section 203(b )(2)(A) of the Act.
If a petitioner establishes eligibility for the underlying EB-2 classification, they must then demonstrate that they merit a discretionary waiver of the job offer requirement "in the national interest." Section 203(b)(2)(B)(i) ofthe Act. Matter ofDhanasar, 26 l&N Dec. 884,889 (AAO 2016), provides the framework for adjudicating national interest waiver petitions. Dhanasar states that U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) may, as matter of discretion, 1 grant a national interest waiver if the petitioner demonstrates that:
- The proposed endeavor has both substantial merit and national importance;
- The individual is well positioned to advance their proposed endeavor; and
- On balance, waiving the job offer requirement would benefit the United States.
Id.
Analysis
At the time of filing, the Petitioner earned a PhD. in computer science from the ~---~~-----~ in 2024 and is a deep learning researcher in the multimodal group at._______. In this position, he explores machine learning, probabilistic inference, and generative modeling, with a particular emphasis on their applications to multimodal intelligence.
The Petitioner proposes to continue his research on developing state of the art algorithms and related systems for bolstering powerful generative artificial intelligence (AI) to simplify the processes involved in creative industries, including ente1iainment production and scientific drug discovery. His research enhances the performance and efficiency ofAI image generation. For his proposed endeavor, he intends to accept a written offer from I Ias a research scientist, advancing research in generative Al, focusing on developing transformative technologies that will build on his prior breakthroughs and address key challenges in Al efficiency, scalability, and accessibility. SCOPS found that the Petitioner qualifies as a member of the professions holding an advanced degree and that he is well-positioned to advance his proposed endeavor.2 SCOPS determined, however, that the Petitioner did not establish the national importance of his proposed endeavor or that, on balance, it would be beneficial to the United States to waive the requirements of a job offer and thus of a labor certification.Did not show the waiver outweighs labor certification
For the reasons discussed below, we conclude the Petitioner has established eligibility for a national interest waiver under the analytical framework set forth in Dhanasar.
A. Substantial Merit and National Importance
The first prong, substantial merit and national importance, focuses on the specific endeavor the individual proposes to undertake. Matter ofDhanasar, 26 I&N Dec. at 889. The endeavor's merit may be demonstrated in a range of areas such as business, entrepreneurialism, science, technology, culture, health, or education.
In determining whether the proposed endeavor has national importance, we consider its potential prospective impact. Id. We withdraw SCOPS' determination that the Petitioner did not establish his proposed endeavor's national importance under Dhanasar 's first prong.3 As evidence that his proposed research in the field of AI has substantial merit and national importance, the Petitioner presented evidence including a personal statement describing the proposed endeavor and his future 2 The Petitioner earned a Ph.D. in computer science from the .___________,in 2024.
plans for it, peer-reviewed journal articles and conference articles, Google Scholar citation record, and industry reports and articles.
The Petitioner also provided probative letters of support from experts in the field describing the Petitioner's past research and significant contributions to the field, his proposed endeavor, and its potential prospective impact in the field of AI. The three ex erts recommending the Petitioner are an assistant professor in computer science at an assistant professor of computer science atl land a senior researcher at~-----~· They each describe the national significance of a new generative model approach that the Petitioner developed called rectified flow which introduces a simplified paradigm for learning ordinary differential equation models. By reducing the computational complexity of diffusion models, rectified flow provides a new platform for innovations in the AI research domain. This novel algorithm improves the processing rate of existing AI models by more than 20 times while preserving the slower model's premium image quality. Two of the Petitioner's recommenders explained how they leveraged the Petitioner's algorithm, one describing it as the "foremost mathematical basis for [his] related work." The AI researcher atl Istated that, "[the Petitioner's] work on rectified flow inspired [his] proposed noise variance reduction method and informed the necessary mathematical foundation for assembling [his] design."
Moreover, the Petitioner presented evidence indicating the dissemination of his research to others in the field through scientific journals and conference presentations, and that his endeavor has the potential to advance a critical and emerging technology field. USCIS recognizes the impmiance of progress in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, especially in focused critical and emerging technologies important to U.S. competitiveness or national security. See generally 6 USCJ S Policy Manual, F.5(D)(2), https://www.uscis.gov/policymanual. As the Petitioner has demonstrated both the substantial merit and national importance of his proposed research, he has established that he meets the first prong ofthe Dhanasar framework.
The Director found that the Petitioner established that he is well-positioned to advance his proposed endeavor. We agree. The Petitioner has an offer for a full-time research position a~ I He has documented 14 peer-reviewed conference articles, 8 of them first-authored, together with other technical reports. Articles he has co-authored from 2020 to the present have been cited ove~ I times according to Google Scholar. The record contains numerous articles citing the Petitioner's work that were authored in collaboration with the that the Petitioner intends to join, demonstrating that the.__ __________,disseminates their work to elevate the field of artificial intelligence.
The third prong requires the petitioner to demonstrate that, on balance, it would be beneficial to the United States to waive the requirements of a job offer and thus of a labor certification. In performing this analysis, USCIS may evaluate factors such as: whether, in light of the nature of the foreign national's qualifications or the proposed endeavor, it would be impractical either for the foreign national to secure a job offer or for the petitioner to obtain a labor certification; whether, even assuming that other qualified U.S. workers are available, the United States would still benefit from the foreign national's contributions; and whether the national interest in the foreign national's contributions is sufficiently urgent to warrant forgoing the labor certification process. In each case, the factor(s) p. 4 considered must, taken together, indicate that on balance, it would be beneficial to the United States to waive the requirements of a job offer and thus of a labor certification. Id. at 890-91. SCOPS determined that the Petitioner had not satisfied the third prong of the Dhanasar framework. Upon de novo review, we conclude that the waiver of the labor certification requirement for the Petitioner would, on balance, be beneficial to the United States.
USCIS considers the following combination of facts contained in the record to be strong positive factors: possession of an advanced STEM degree in his field of endeavor; his published research and peer review of his work; his knowledge and skills in his proposed endeavor; a plan with progress to further his proposed STEM endeavor; and the interest and support of national academic members in his field. The Petitioner possesses considerable education, experience, and expertise in artificial intelligence. Based on the foregoing, the Petitioner has established he offers contributions of such value that, on balance, he would benefit the United States even if other qualified U.S. workers are available. The Petitioner, therefore, meets the third prong of the Dhanasar framework. Accordingly, we hereby withdraw SCOPS's decision otherwise.
Conclusion
The Petitioner has met the requisite three prongs set forth in the Dhanasar analytical framework. We find that he has established he is eligible for and otherwise merits a national interest waiver as a matter of discretion.
ORDER: The appeal is sustained.