The Petitioner, a computer science research assistant, proposed to apply data science and machine learning skills as a general research assistant for any willing U.S. employer, citing prior work with a NASA-affiliated snow-science campaign as an example.

Prong 1 — national importancenot established · dispositive

“In essence, the Petitioner's endeavor would place the Petitioner in a free agent posture to any U.S. employer who requires their services.”

“And the purpose of a national interest waiver is not to facilitate a petitioner's U.S. job search.”

“the record contains insufficient documentation to support or even describe job creation of any significance such that it rose to a level commensurate with national importance”

“The Petitioner has not identified where they intend to establish their endeavor, which impedes an evaluation of whether the proposed job creation would address employment in economically depressed areas.”

“We are not concerned with the individual petitioner when evaluating the first prong of the Dhanasar analytical framework; we are focused on the petitioner's proposed endeavor.”

AAO decision text

How the evidence was treated

• recommendation letter · discounted

  “these attributes, critical as they may be for an endeavor's success, are not germane to the question of whether a proposed endeavor elevates to a position of national importance”

  AAO decision text
• citations publications · ignored
• resume experience · discounted

  “it is not clear how this one-time participation supports or is related to the Petitioner's endeavor to serve as a computer science research assistant with any willing United States employer”

  AAO decision text
• business plan · discounted

  “does not render any computer science research assistant endeavor working with data science and machine learning nationally important without an evaluation of the prospective positive impact”

  AAO decision text
• other · discounted

  “The record is similarly silent about the other potential positive economic effects identified by the Petitioner”

  AAO decision text

Where this case turned

• 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
• Local, not national scope · p1 — impact confined to clients / a region

Notable

The AAO frames the proposed endeavor as functionally a 'job search' / 'free agent posture' to any willing employer, stating the NIW is not meant to facilitate such a search; it also emphasizes that petitioner attributes (dedication, past success) are not relevant to prong 1's national importance analysis, which is strictly endeavor-focused.

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
• Matter of L-A-C-
• Poursina v. USCIS

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