The petitioner, a cloud software developer, proposed to develop advanced machine learning frameworks to enable personalized, bandwidth-efficient streaming of immersive media, improve knowledge discovery from specialized domains, and improve AI-assisted productivity across industries.

Prong 1 — national importanceestablished

Prong 2 — well positionednot established · dispositive

“a master's degree and a record of publications are not, on their own, sufficient to demonstrate that the Petitioner is particularly well positioned to advance the proposed endeavor.”

“The Petitioner therefore has not demonstrated that the number of citations received by his published journals and articles, in and of themselves, reflect a record of success in similar efforts to meet Dhanasar's second prong.”

“they do not offer sufficient, detailed, and concrete examples of how the Petitioner's research has been adopted, applied in practical settings, or changed the course of other research efforts.”

“the Petitioner has not provided evidence of progress toward achieving the specific goals of his proposed endeavor, research plan, timeline, funding information”

“the evidence submitted does not sufficiently demonstrate that the Petitioner is well positioned to independently secure funding or lead the advancement of his proposed endeavor.”

“a degree in and of itself: is not a basis to determine that a person is well positioned to advance the proposed endeavor.”

AAO decision text

How the evidence was treated

• citations publications · discounted

  “citation frequency, which may include self-citations, is quantitative in nature and does not reveal the reasons for the citations”

  AAO decision text
• recommendation letter · discounted

  “they do not offer sufficient, detailed, and concrete examples of how the Petitioner's research has been adopted, applied in practical settings”

  AAO decision text
• funding · discounted

  “the evidence indicates that the Petitioner was not the primary award recipient or principal investigator”

  AAO decision text
• degree · credited
• resume experience · discounted

  “the record also lacks evidence of the connection between the Petitioner's day-to-day responsibilities as a cloud software developer and the research endeavor he proposes”

  AAO decision text

Where this case turned

• Citations insufficient · p2 — citation counts without qualitative account of impact
• Education alone insufficient · p2 — degrees offered as positioning — credentials are not a track record
• Funding absent · p2 — no documented funding or resources behind the plan
• Letters conclusory · p2 — letters praise skills in general terms without tracing specific impact
• No progress evidence · p2 — no documented movement toward the endeavor since filing
• Record of success insufficient · p2 — a claimed track record the documents do not establish

Notable

AAO expressly withdrew SCOPS' favorable prong 2 finding and unfavorable prong 1 finding, reversing both, yet still dismissed based on prong 2 failure found on de novo review; also rejected petitioner's Buletini-based abuse-of-discretion argument regarding evidence consideration.

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
• Buletini v. INS
• Flores v. Garland
• Matter of L-A-C-

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