The Petitioner, a computer science researcher, 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. § 1153(b )(2).
Service Center Operations (SCOPS) denied the petition, concluding that the record did not establish 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 ofproof to demonstrate eligibility by a preponderance of the evidence. Matter ofChawathe, 25 I&N Dec. 369, 375-76 (AAO 2010). We review the questions in this matter de novo. Matter ofChristo's, Inc., 26 I&N Dec. 537,537 n.2 (AAO 2015). Upon de novo review, we will dismiss 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) of the 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 1 See Flores v. Garland, 72 F.4th 85, 88 (5th Cir. 2023) (joining the Third, Ninth, Eleventh, and D.C. Circuit Courts of Appeals in concluding that USCIS ' decision to grant or deny a national interest waiver is discretionary in nature). p. 2 I
- On balance, waiving the job offer requirement would benefit the United States.
Id.
Analysis
SCOPS determined the Petitioner qualified for EB-2 classification as an advanced degree professional because he submitted evidence of his master's degree in computer science from the I We agree. The only issue on appeal is whether he qualifies for and merits '------------' a waiver of the job offer requirement in the national interest.
In his initial statement, the Petitioner described his proposed endeavor as developing "automated text mining and structuring algorithms for mining structured and accessible knowledge from massive unstructured textual data in order to enhance applications such as news event detection and tracking, scientific discovery through literature analysis, and cyber security monitoring on social media." In response to SCOPS' request for evidence (RFE), the Petitioner explained he would work on "comprehensive knowledge structuring with large generative models," "structure-enhanced retrievalaugmented generation," and "automated data annotation and synthesis with weakly-supervised learning."
A. Substantial Merit and National Importance
The first prong, substantial merit and national importance, focuses on the specific endeavor that 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. Id. SCOPS determined the Petitioner's proposed endeavor has substantial merit. We agree.
In determining whether the proposed endeavor has national importance, we consider its potential prospective impact. Id. This consideration may include whether the proposed endeavor has significant potential to employ U.S. workers (particularly in an economically depressed area), has other substantial positive economic effects, has national or even global implications within the field, or other broader implications indicating national importance. Id. at 889-90. SCOPS determined the Petitioner was working in an important field, but did not establish that his proposed endeavor would extend beyond his employer to have national, global, or other broader implications in his field.No broader implications shown On appeal, the Petitioner asserts SCOPS erred by conflating his proposed endeavor with his intended employment and claims the evidence establishes the national importance of his proposed endeavor.
The Petitioner asserts his proposed endeavor has national importance because it involves artificial intelligence (AT), generative AT systems, multimodal and large language models, and synthetic data approaches for training, tuning, and testing, which the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) has identified as critical and emerging technologies (CETs). The Petitioner submitted the NSTC CETs List Update which identifies AT as a CET and generative AT systems, multimodal and large language models, and synthetic data approaches for training, tuning, and testing as AI subfields. p. 3 U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) recognizes the importance of progress in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields especially in focused critical and emerging technologies and the essential role that individuals with advanced STEM degrees have in fostering such progress. 6 USCIS Policy Manual F.5(D)(2), https://www.uscis.gov/policy-manual/. However, "in all cases, the evidence must demonstrate that a STEM endeavor has both substantial merit and national importance." Id. The record here does not establish the national importance of the Petitioner's proposed endeavor.
The Petitioner claims his research on comprehensive knowledge structuring with large generative models is a CET and is within the special interest of the Department of Defense because the need to improve foundational data management is mentioned in its 2023 Data, Analytics, and Artificial Intelligence Adoption Strategy. However, the Strategy does not specifically reference the Applicant's proposed endeavor.Proposed endeavor too vague The Petitioner also asserts his research on comprehensive knowledge structuring with large generative models is of national importance because the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) "published a research proposal call on KMASS: Knowledge Management at Scale and Speed." However, the Petitioner does not indicate that his research was accepted or funded by DARPA.
The Petitioner further asserts that by developing algorithms that efficiently mine and analyze vast amounts of online data, his work identifies and mitigates the spread of false information and supports national security interests. In support of this claim, the Petitioner cites an article entitled "Disinformation and the Threat to National Security" by the American Security Project. The Petitioner submits only the first page of this article, which does not discuss his proposed endeavor. The Petitioner also claims that his structure-enhanced retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) method "will be crucial for developing next-generation AI assistants for domains such [as] medical diagnostics, legal research, and defense intelligence." The Petitioner asserts his "automated data annotation approach will reduce the dependence on expensive and time-consuming human-labeled datasets, and thus lower AI development costs to make it accessible to industries such as agriculture, healthcare, and education." The Petitioner does not submit or cite to any evidence to support these claims.
The Petitioner submitted evidence of his numerous publications and citations to his articles. In particular, he submitted three articles which cite his work. These articles cite the Petitioner's coauthored articles after just one sentence in the articles' introductions or summaries of related work or models. The articles do not discuss the Petitioner's research in-depth or otherwise indicate that his proposed endeavor has broader implications in his field. See Matter ofDhanasar, 26 I&N Dec. at 889 ( explaining "we look for broader implications").
We acknowledge that the Petitioner's proposed endeavor involves the CET ofAI and two AI subfields. However, our assessment ofnational importance does not focus on the importance of a field in general, but instead "focuses on the specific endeavor that the foreign national proposes to undertake." Id. Although the Petitioner's proposed endeavor involves a CET, the record does not establish the potential prospective impact ofthe Petitioner's specific proposed endeavor. Cf id. at 892 ( citing media articles and other evidence documenting Congressional interest in Dhanasar's research). Consequently, he has not demonstrated the national importance of his proposed endeavor. p. 4 B. The Remaining Dhanasar Prongs
The Petitioner has not established the national importance of his specific proposed endeavor and does not meet the first prong of the Dhanasar framework. As this issue is dispositive of the Petitioner's appeal, we decline to reach and hereby reserve determination of his eligibility under the second and third prongs of the Dhanasar framework. See INS v. Bagamasbad, 429 U.S. 24, 25 (1976) (stating that "courts and agencies are not required to make findings on issues the decision of which is unnecessary to the results they reach").
Conclusion
The Petitioner has not established the national importance ofhis proposed endeavor and does not meet the first prong of the Dhanasar analytical framework. Consequently, the Petitioner has not demonstrated that he is eligible for or merits a waiver of the job offer requirement in the national interest as a matter of discretion.
ORDER: The appeal is dismissed.
NOTICE: This constitutes the final decision in this matter. The filing of a motion will not postpone the effect of the decision. 8 C.F.R. § 103.S(a)(l)(iv). Aliens who are not lawfully present, or who are otherwise inadmissible or deportable, may be subject to the commencement of removal proceedings under section 240 ofthe Act through the issuance of a Form I-862, Notice to Appear. Those proceedings may result in their removal from the United States and possible ineligibility for future visas or other immigration benefits.