The beneficiary, an electrical engineer employed by a nonprofit public utility, proposed to provide cybersecurity monitoring and threat detection for the petitioner's SCADA/operational technology systems supporting its power generation and transmission facilities.

Prong 1 — national importancenot established · dispositive

“the record is not sufficiently clear as to how the Beneficiary's specific role relates to the Petitioner's overall cybersecurity management efforts”

“The support letter describing the Beneficiary's role is not sufficient, without additional documentary evidence, to establish the national importance of proposed endeavor.”

“Citing the general importance of a profession or field alone is not sufficient to demonstrate national importance.”

“benefits to a specific employer alone, even an employer with a national footprint, are not sufficiently relevant to the question of whether a person's endeavor has national importance.”

AAO decision text

How the evidence was treated

• recommendation letter · discounted

  “The support letter describing the Beneficiary's role is not sufficient, without additional documentary evidence, to establish the national importance”

  AAO decision text
• other · discounted

  “the fact that the Beneficiary's proposed endeavor relates to SCADA systems does not sufficiently demonstrate its national importance”

  AAO decision text
• motion resubmission · discounted

  “it does not establish that we incorrectly applied any law or policy, nor does it establish that our decision was incorrect based on the record”

  AAO decision text

Where this case turned

• Employer-specific benefit · p1 — "work furthers my company's product" — value accrues to one firm
• 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
• Letters conclusory · p1 — letters praise skills in general terms without tracing specific impact

Notable

This is a motion to reconsider following a prior AAO appeal dismissal; only prong 1 (national importance) was analyzed because it was dispositive in the earlier decision, and the AAO found the newly cited evidence (a support letter, a FERC-NERC report, and an outside professor's opinion letter) insufficient to show the AAO's prior decision misapplied law or was factually incorrect.

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. 103.5(a)(3)
• 8 C.F.R. 103.5(a)(4)

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