dismissedDEC092025_01B52032025-12-09 · appeal
This is an AAO appeal decision — a case denied once and appealed. It shows how the framework is applied; it is not the filing population.
The Petitioner, an assistant teaching professor, proposed to continue teaching and to research private blockchain cybersecurity risks, developing a Hyperledger-based emulator to help insurers assess smart-contract cyberattack losses and design insurance products.
Field: blockchain/cybersecurity risk assessment for insurance · Read the decision (uscis.gov)
EB-2 threshold — addressed
SCOPS and AAO agreed the Petitioner qualifies as an advanced degree professional; not contested on appeal.
Prong 1 — national importancenot established · dispositive
“she has not presented evidence indicating that her product would be adopted at a scale indicative of national importance.”
“Her description of her endeavor consists of a broad, open-ended overview free from references to specific elements that might compare or differentiate it from other emulation applications available.”
“it is not the overall importance of the industry or field in which the Petitioner intends to work, but the particular endeavor on which the Petitioner intends to embark that we consider”
“She has not provided specific goals related to her continued research or definitive milestones for the development of her emulator”
AAO decision text
How the evidence was treated
- business plan · discounted
“she has not provided specific goals related to her continued research or definitive milestones for the development of her emulator”
AAO decision text - recommendation letter · discounted
“does not provide additional insight into how the Petitioner's continued teaching activities align with her proposed endeavor”
AAO decision text - other · discounted
“This equivocation is not corroborated by evidence in the record”
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
1,312coded decisions carry the failure named in this record. A placement shows where your profile sits among them, not what it predicts.See where your profile sits — 90 seconds →
Notable
AAO analogized the Petitioner's teaching activities to those of the petitioner in Dhanasar itself, noting Dhanasar found teaching did not rise to national importance because it would not impact the field more broadly.
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
- Flores v. Garland
Cases in adjacent profiles
- The Petitioner, a senior principal biostatistician, proposes to develop innovative statistical and machine-learning meth
- The Petitioner proposed to use advanced deep learning and machine learning models to create efficient, safe, and well-pe
- The Petitioner proposes to advance machine learning methods for the design and optimization of advanced metamaterials an
- The Petitioner, a postdoctoral chemist, proposed to continue developing high-performance materials and novel synthetic m
- The Petitioner proposes to design novel sensor data processing methods and machine learning algorithms for smart wearabl