The Beneficiary, employed as a Platform Engineer II, sought to develop cloud infrastructure for gaming and streaming services, including contributions to Kubernetes platform autoscaling using KEDA and Vertical Pod Autoscaler.

Prong 1 — national importancenot established · dispositive

“However, while the Petitioner established that the proposed endeavor has substantial merit, they have not established it has national importance.”

“These articles and information, while explaining the general value of the field, do not demonstrate that the Beneficiary's employment at will lead to breakthrough technologies in the digital entertainment industry or in cloud infrastructure.”

“Although the letters discuss the Beneficiary's achievements, the letters do not address the Beneficiary's current endeavor or show the broader impact of his work”

“the letter does not explain how the Beneficiary's role within would have a broader impact.”

“the Petitioner did not sufficiently explain or demonstrate how the Beneficiary's employment alone would have any projected economic impact or job creation.”

AAO decision text

How the evidence was treated

• recommendation letter · discounted

  “the letters do not address the Beneficiary's current endeavor or show the broader impact of his work”

  AAO decision text
• media · discounted

  “while explaining the general value of the field, do not demonstrate that the Beneficiary's employment at will lead to breakthrough technologies”

  AAO decision text
• other · discounted

  “the letter does not explain how the Beneficiary's role within would have a broader impact”

  AAO decision text

Where this case turned

• Economic claims unsupported · p1 — job/revenue projections with no corroborating basis
• Employer-specific benefit · p1 — "work furthers my company's product" — value accrues to one firm
• Field importance conflated with endeavor · p1 — argues the field matters, not the specific endeavor
• Letters not independent · p1 — letters come from employers and close collaborators, not independent experts

Notable

AAO explicitly notes that a recommendation letter emphasizing past accomplishments 'relates more to the second Dhanasar prong, being well-positioned, rather than the first prong' — an example of cross-prong evidence mapping. Expert letter's citation of $24.5 billion industry revenue and monthly active users was rejected because it described the employer's/industry's benefit rather than the beneficiary's individual contribution.

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
• Matter of E-M-
• Matter of L-A-C-

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