This is an AAO appeal decision — a case denied once and appealed. It shows how the framework is applied; it is not the filing population.
The Petitioner, a senior scientist at a multinational pharmaceutical company, proposes to continue developing advanced deep learning and physics-based computational models for drug design, aiming to reduce drug discovery costs and accelerate identification of more effective therapies.
Field: computational drug design / computational chemistry / AI-based drug discovery · Read the decision (uscis.gov)
EB-2 threshold — addressed
SCOPS and AAO both accepted that the Petitioner holds a doctoral degree in biology and qualifies as an advanced degree professional; threshold EB-2 was not at issue on appeal.
Prong 1 — national importancenot established · dispositive
“it is not the overall importance of the industry, field, or profession in which an individual intends to work, but the particular endeavor on which an individual intends to embark.”
“research related to those initiatives is not axiomatically conferred that same importance.”
“the letters do not discuss how her specific work has implications for advancements in scientific understanding or innovation on a broader scale.”
“it is not evident how the Petitioner's individual research contributions rise to the level of national importance.”
“The record does not, however, clarify how the Petitioner's endeavor to continue her individual research will have a level of impact within her field on a scale commensurate with national importance.”
AAO decision text
How the evidence was treated
- other · discounted
“a proposed endeavor does not necessarily carry national importance based solely on its relationship to a critical and emerging technology.”
AAO decision text - recommendation letter · discounted
“the letters do not discuss how her specific work has implications for advancements in scientific understanding or innovation on a broader scale.”
AAO decision text - citations publications · discounted
“it is not evident how the Petitioner's individual research contributions rise to the level of national importance.”
AAO decision text
Where this case turned
- Economic claims unsupported · p1 — job/revenue projections with no corroborating basis
- 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
AAO accepted SCOPS's finding of substantial merit (first half of prong 1) but found national importance not established, making this a rare partial-prong-1 failure. The decision explicitly declined to reach prongs 2 and 3 under Bagamasbad. The Petitioner's argument that alignment with NSTC critical-and-emerging-technology designations and NIH Cancer Moonshot confers national importance was squarely rejected as conflating field-level importance with the specific endeavor.
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