sustained EB-1A Case: Neuroscience

US. Department of Homeland Security 
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services 
Oflce ofAdministrative Appeals MS 2090 
Washington, DC 20529-2090 
U.S. Citizenship 
and Immigration 
P'&WLEC COPY 
FILE: EAC 06 019 52880 Office: NEBRASKA SERVICE CENTER Date: JUN 0 9 2009 
- 
IN RE: Petitioner: 
Beneficiary: 
PETITION: 
 Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker as an Alien of Extraordinary Ability Pursuant to Section 
203(b)(l)(A) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, 8 U.S.C. tj 1153(b)(l)(A) 
ON BEHALF OF PETITIONER: 
INSTRUCTIONS: 
This is the decision of the Administrative Appeals Office in your case. All documents have been returned to 
the office that originally decided your case. Any further inquiry must be made to that office. 
F. Grissom 
Chief, Administrative Appeals Office 
EAC 06 0 19 52880 
Page 2 
DISCUSSION: The employment-based immigrant visa petition was denied by the Director, Nebraska 
Service Center, and is now before the Administrative Appeals Office (AAO) on appeal. The appeal 
will be sustained and the petition will be approved. 
The petitioner seeks classification as an employment-based immigrant pursuant to section 
203(b)(l)(A) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (the Act), 8 U.S.C. 5 1153(b)(l)(A), as an alien 
of extraordinary ability in the sciences. The director determined that the petitioner had not established 
the sustained national or international acclaim necessary to qualify for classification as an alien of 
extraordinary ability. 
On appeal, counsel argues that the petitioner meets at least three of the regulatory criteria at 8 C.F.R. 
5 204.5(h)(3). 
Section 203(b) of the Act states, in pertinent part, that: 
(1) Priority workers. -- Visas shall first be made available . . . to qualified immigrants who are 
aliens described in any of the following subparagraphs (A) through (C): 
(A) Aliens with extraordinary ability. -- An alien is described in this subparagraph if -- 
(i) the alien has extraordinary ability in the sciences, arts, education, 
business, or athletics whlch has been demonstrated by sustained national or 
international acclaim and whose achievements have been recognized in the 
field through extensive documentation, 
(ii) the alien seeks to enter the United States to continue work in the area of 
extraordinary ability, and 
(iii) the alien's entry into the United States will substantially benefit 
prospectively the United States. 
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and legacy Immigration and Naturalization 
Service (INS) have consistently recognized that Congress intended to set a very high standard for 
individuals seeking immigrant visas as aliens of extraordinary ability. See 56 Fed. Reg. 60897, 
60898-99 (Nov. 29, 1991). As used in this section, the term "extraordinary ability" means a level of 
expertise indicating that the individual is one of that small percentage who have risen to the very top 
of the field of endeavor. 
 8 C.F.R. $204.5(h)(2). 
 The specific requirements for supporting 
documents to establish that an alien has sustained national or international acclaim and recognition 
in his or her field of expertise are set forth in the regulation at 8 C.F.R. 5 204.5(h)(3). The relevant 
criteria will be addressed below. It should be reiterated, however, that the petitioner must show that 
he has sustained national or international acclaim at the very top level. 
EAC 06 0 19 52880 
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This petition, filed on October 25, 2005, seeks to classify the petitioner as an alien with 
extraordinary ability as a research scientist. At the time of filing, the petitioner was working as a 
researcher in the Neurobiology Department at the Yale University School of Medicine. 
The regulation at 8 C.F.R. fj 204.5(h)(3) indicates that an alien can establish sustained national or 
international acclaim through evidence of a one-time achievement (that is, a major, internationally 
recognized award). Barring the alien's receipt of a major internationally recognized award, the 
regulation at 8 C.F.R. fj 204.5(h)(3) outlines ten criteria, at least three of which must be satisfied for 
an alien to establish the sustained acclaim necessary to qualify as an alien of extraordinary ability. 
We find that the petitioner's evidence meets at least three of the regulatory criteria. 
Evidence of the alien's participation, either individually or on a panel, as a judge of the 
work of others in the same or an alliedjeld of specfication for which classlJication is 
sought. 
The petitioner submitted evidence showing that he served as a Ph.D. thesis evaluation committee 
member for the University of Pittsburgh (2004), served on the Review Committee for the 14~~ 
Annual Computational Neuroscience Meeting (2005), reviewed several conference papers, and was 
requested to provide reviews for distinguished journals such as Proceedings of the National 
Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. Accordingly, the petitioner has established 
that he meets this criterion. 
Evidence of the alien S original scientfic, scholarly, artistic, athletic, or business- 
related contributions of major signijicance in the$eld. 
The petitioner submitted several letters of support discussing his original research contributions. We 
cite representative examples here. 
Medicine, states: 
Visual adaptation to the mean and contrast of input signal are widespread phenomena in 
visual systems, providing visual systems great flexibility to function under varying natural 
environments. Until recently, the computation principles and cellular mechanisms of these 
adaptive changes in cortical function have been difficult to examine. [The petitioner] 
developed a theoretical framework, which clarified the effect of the nonlinear spiking 
generation dynamics and the active adaptive control loop on the contrast adaptation. These 
results successfully explained several important experimental observations. His framework 
is important for both experimental and theoretical scientists to understand the origin of 
contrast adaptation. 
, Walter Van Dyke Bingham Professor of Psychology and Cognitive 
Neuroscience, and Co-Director of the Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition, Carnegie Mellon 
University, states: 
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[The petitioner] studied how different membrane conductance contributed to the electrical 
characteristics of a neuron, how neurons interacted to produce functioning neural circuits and 
how large populations of neurons represent, store and process information. His research 
results benefited neuroscientists in their attempt to understand more deeply how the single 
neuron and the network processes the input signals and translates them to neural information. 
[The petitioner's] work has clarified the relationship between the key feature of natural signal 
statistics and the visual coding, which [the petitioner] published in the top physics journal 
Physical Review Letters. 
[The petitioner's] work is of significance for understanding the relationship between the 
statistical property of the natural world and our brain development. Specifically, his work 
showed that the visual circuits from retina to visual cortex might be well-developed to adapt 
to process long-term correlation signals efficiently. 
states: 
Although I know [the petitioner] only by reputation, I am well acquainted with his research 
through the papers he published in Vision Research, Physical Review E, and Physical Review 
Letters. 
One of [the petitioner's] most creative contributions was to demonstrate that the information 
encoding process in the primary visual cortical neurons of monkeys exhibit higher preference 
for 1 if signals than llfo and 1 if2 signals. 
Professor of Neurology and Neuroscience, Weill Medical College of Cornell 
University, states: "[The petitioner's] series of investigations has made a significant contribution to 
our ability to quantify mathematically the mechanisms of the contrast adaptation phenomenon in the 
visual cortex." 
Spencer Professor of Science, Center for Neural Science, New York University, 
states: 
[The petitioner's] analytical results surprisingly indicated that some effects that seemed to be 
caused by adaptation were not, and instead the experimental observations were indeed purely 
due to non-linear dynamics. Other really adaptive behaviors of single neurons are the results 
of some adaptive circuits subjected to an information maximization process. These are 
EAC 06 019 52880 
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incredible findings, and [the petitioner's] talent for analysis in this investigation has made a 
big contribution in this area. 
Professor and Director, Visual Neuroscience Laboratory, Osaka University, 
states: 
Due to his unique background in physics, [the petitioner] was able to develop a theoretical 
framework and nonlinear dynamical analysis to isolate the sensory adaptation effect due 
solely to spiking generation dynamics. Then he proposed an adaptive mechanism predicted 
by information maximization. By doing this, he successfully predicted several contrast 
adaptation phenomena by a mathematical neuronal model. 
- Assistant Professor, Department of Physiology and Biophysics, University of 
Washington, states: 
[The petitioner's] experimental results demonstrated that adaptive coding properties of 
primary visual cortex (Vl) neurons are tuned to a particular long-term correlation inherent in 
a signal's energy distribution. 
[The petitioner] has made significant achievements in advancing our understanding of brain 
function and neural information processing. 
In support of the preceding experts' statements, the petitioner submitted documentation showing 
dozens of independent cites to his published findings. These citations are solid evidence that other 
researchers have been influenced by the petitioner's work and are familiar with it. This evidence 
corroborates the experts' statements that the petitioner has made original contributions of major 
significance in his field. The record reflects that the petitioner's contributions are important not only 
to the institutions where he has worked, but throughout the greater field as well. Leading scientists 
from around the world have acknowledged the value of the petitioner's work and its major 
significance in his field. 
In light of the above, the petitioner has established that he meets this criterion. 
Evidence of the alien's authorship of scholarly articles in the field, in professional or 
major trade publications or other major media. 
The petitioner submitted evidence of his authorship of numerous articles in publications such as 
Physical Review E and Biological Cybernetics. As discussed, the petitioner also submitted evidence 
of dozens of articles that cite to his work. These numerous citations demonstrate the significance of 
the petitioner's articles to his field. Accordingly, the petitioner has established that he meets this 
third criterion. 
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In this case, the petitioner has satisfied three of the regulatory criteria required for classification as 
an alien of extraordinary ability. 8 C.F.R. $ 204.5(h)(3). Pursuant to the statute and regulations, the 
petitioner qualifies for the classification sought. 
In review, while not all of the petitioner's evidence carries the weight imputed to it by counsel, the 
totality of the evidence establishes an overall pattern of sustained national acclaim and extraordinary 
ability. The petitioner has also established that he seeks to continue working in the same field in the 
United States and that his entry into the United States will substantially benefit prospectively the 
United States. Therefore, the petitioner has overcome the stated grounds for denial and thereby 
established eligibility for immigrant classification under section 203(b)(l)(A) of the Act. 
The burden of proof in visa petition proceedings remains entirely with the petitioner. Section 291 of 
the Act, 8 U.S.C. $ 136 1. The petitioner has sustained that burden. Accordingly, the decision of the 
director denying the petition will be withdrawn and the petition will be approved. 
ORDER: 
 The appeal is sustained and the petition is approved.