Published AAO appeal decisions

An agribusiness CEO sought EB-2 with national interest waiver. The AAO dismissed a motion to reconsider, affirming that the petitioner failed to establish national importance because his updated business plan remained uncorroborated and lacked evidence of broader field implications beyond his clients.

An employer petitioned for a national interest waiver for an EB-2 advanced degree professional working on sustainable semiconductor lithography systems. The AAO agreed with SCOPS that while the beneficiary's work has substantial merit, the petitioner failed to demonstrate its national importance; benefits limited to specific employer and field importance alone do not satisfy the first Dhanasar prong.

Semiconductor foundry petitions for electrical engineer beneficiary under EB-2 with national interest waiver. Beneficiary holds master's equivalent degree. AAO upheld denial: petitioner failed to establish national importance of specific proposed endeavor under Dhanasar first prong; industry importance insufficient without defined project scope and prospective impact.

Music therapist with advanced degree seeking national interest waiver for EB-2 employment-based petition. AAO found substantial merit in proposed music therapy services but denied waiver because endeavor lacked national importance, lacking broader field-wide impact beyond local clients.

Electrical and computer engineer with master's degree seeks NIW for research refining silicon carbide process integration for semiconductor devices. AAO held petitioner failed both Dhanasar prongs: endeavor lacked demonstrated national importance and petitioner was not well-positioned to advance it without employer resources or documented funding.

Electrical engineer sought EB-2 NIW. AAO withdrew SCOPS denial and remanded. Petitioner established substantial merit and national importance of proposed research and that he is well positioned to advance it through education, experience, and expert support. SCOPS must reconsider whether balancing factors favor waiving job offer requirement.

Machine learning software engineer employed by a company seeks national interest waiver. Claimed his proposed AI research has substantial merit and national importance. AAO held the evidence does not demonstrate prospective national or global impact on the field; references to AI importance and conference invitations do not establish national importance of his specific endeavor.

Humanitarian nonprofit petitions for HR manager beneficiary for EB-2 with NIW. Beneficiary holds advanced degree and employer established EB-2 eligibility. AAO dismissed, finding proposed endeavor lacked sufficient national importance to satisfy first Dhanasar prong.

An employer petitioned for an EB-2 national interest waiver for a machine learning engineer developing deep learning and NLP models. The AAO dismissed the appeal, finding the petitioner established substantial merit but failed to demonstrate that the specific proposed endeavor had national importance despite evidence of AI field importance.

Business operations specialist sought EB-2 NIW classification. Service center denied underlying EB-2 qualification and NIW eligibility. AAO dismissed appeal, focusing on first Dhanasar prong: proposed endeavor lacks national importance because it shows no significant potential to employ U.S. workers, no substantial positive economic effects, and anticipated financial loss.

A digital marketing company sponsors a data scientist for EB-2 with national interest waiver. The AAO found the beneficiary qualified for EB-2 with an advanced degree and the endeavor has substantial merit, but rejected the waiver because the petitioner failed to demonstrate the proposed work has national importance, only that STEM fields are important generally.

A senior SoC researcher sought EB-2 NIW under Dhanasar. The AAO found substantial merit and national importance of his hardware security research but held he failed to show he is well-positioned to advance it, lacking contemporaneous evidence of impact or specific advancement plan.

A quality control manager with an advanced degree seeks EB-2 national interest waiver. The AAO dismissed the appeal, finding the beneficiary's proposed work as a quality control manager lacked sufficient prospective impact to satisfy the national importance prong of Dhanasar, even in a strategically important defense infrastructure sector.

Computer scientist with advanced degree proposed developing computer vision and large language models for drug discovery. AAO found SCOPS failed to adequately analyze whether endeavor has substantial merit and national importance, contained contradictory statements on second prong, and insufficiently analyzed third prong. Decision withdrawn and remanded.

Senior manager of data science with Ph.D. in biostatistics sought EB-2 NIW to develop multivariate temporal models using AI for gene regulatory networks and socioeconomic systems. AAO found proposed research has national importance but petitioner's employment role only benefits employer, not the nation; petitioner not well positioned to advance endeavor.

Senior machine learning engineer proposes research on foundational model disentanglement and interpretability. AAO found the endeavor has substantial merit and national importance but rejected the petition because the petitioner failed to demonstrate she is well-positioned to advance it through sufficient record of success or influence in the field.

Senior software engineer with PhD in computer science proposes distributed query optimization research. AAO found the research endeavor meritorious but distinguished between proposed independent research and employer-specific benefits, finding the latter lacks national importance. Petition dismissed because petitioner failed second prong.

A software engineer sought NIW for cloud computing work. AAO agreed that although the field has substantial merit, the petitioner's specific proposed endeavor lacks national importance. Petitioner failed to demonstrate broader implications beyond his company or how his work would impact the industry or region more broadly.

AI manufacturer petitioned for beneficiary's EB-2 national interest waiver. Beneficiary qualified for underlying EB-2 but failed NIW Dhanasar first prong; proposed work lacked demonstrated national importance and broader implications beyond company and clients.

Employer-sponsored semiconductor engineer with master's degree seeks EB-2 national interest waiver for system-level test development work. Claimed endeavor has national importance due to semiconductor industry value and testing standard implications. AAO found importance of field insufficient; specific proposed endeavor lacks demonstrated broader prospective impact.

Computer scientist with master's degree in engineering proposed advancing AI research in deep learning for data analysis and virtual assistants. AAO found endeavor has substantial merit and national importance but petitioner is not well positioned to advance it due to insufficient record of success and impact. Appeal dismissed on second prong failure.

Computer scientist employed as engineering associate proposed developing proprietary software for AI safety and trust. AAO affirmed denial because proposed work lacked national importance, benefiting only the specific employer despite national footprint, even though petitioner was well positioned.

Attorney specializing in intellectual property and cybercrime seeking EB-2 NIW proposed consulting business with claimed job creation and tax benefits. AAO dismissed, finding endeavor lacks sufficient national importance and evidence does not demonstrate broader impact on field beyond specific business and clients.

Physician-researcher proposing cancer research claims national interest waiver. AAO found first prong met: research has national importance. However, second prong failed: evidence from references lacked specific examples of research impact or progress, and citation metrics did not adequately demonstrate exceptional success.

A drug addiction treatment center petitioned for an EB-2 national interest waiver for an IT operations manager beneficiary. The AAO affirmed denial, finding the proposed endeavor lacked national importance; recommendation letters focused on the beneficiary's individual qualifications and organizational impact only, not industry-wide or profession-wide benefit.