The Petitioner, a director of technology development in positioning and navigation systems and adjunct professor, proposed to conduct research on GPS interference detection and mitigation as a tenure-track professor in the United States.

Prong 2 — well positionednot established · dispositive

“Although the Petitioner's advanced degree in a STEM field is an especially positive factor, it is not a sufficient basis to determine that he is well positioned to advance the proposed endeavor.”

“they only generally describe his research and other accomplishments and the importance of GPS technology and provide limited information or examples of how his research and work has been implemented”

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

“The Petitioner, however, does not offer evidence showing that he has been the recipient of any scientific research grants or other source of funding for past or future projects”

“The record does not contain evidence of any job offer made to the Petitioner or any further communications with the universities”

“he has not sufficiently shown a record of success in related or similar efforts, progress towards achieving his proposed endeavor; and interest from relevant entities or individuals.”

AAO decision text

How the evidence was treated

• degree · discounted

  “it is not a sufficient basis to determine that he is well positioned to advance the proposed endeavor”

  AAO decision text
• citations publications · discounted

  “citation rates should not be interpreted as representing the central tendency of the distribution”

  AAO decision text
• recommendation letter · discounted

  “they only generally describe his research and other accomplishments...provide limited information or examples”

  AAO decision text
• patents · discounted

  “has not, however, provided evidence demonstrating the significance of the patents to the geomatics engineering field”

  AAO decision text
• other · discounted

  “the record does not show that his occasional participation in the widespread peer review process represents a record of success”

  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 declined to reach prongs 1 and 3, reserving them, since prong 2 failure was dispositive; also notably critiqued the Petitioner's use of Clarivate Analytics citation percentiles as methodologically unsound for extrapolating from broader 'engineering' field to geomatics engineering subfield.

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

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