dismissed EB-2 NIW Case: Biomedical Engineering

identifiing ?eleted to 
prevent  clear^ ~nwarranted 
invasion of pt~d privacy 
U.S. Department of Homeland Security 
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services 
Office ofAdministrative Appeals MS 2090 
Washington, DC 20529-2090 
U.S. Citizenship 
and Immigration 
SRC 09 186 52896 
IN RE: 
MAY 0 6 2010 
PETITION: Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker as a Member of the Professions Holding an Advanced 
Degree or an Alien of Exceptional Ability Pursuant to Section 203(b)(2) of the Immigration 
and Nationality Act, 8 U.S.C. 9 1 153(b)(2) 
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. 
If you believe the law was inappropriately applied or you have additional information that you wish to have 
considered, you may file a motion to reconsider or a motion to reopen. Please refer to 8 C.F.R. 5 103.5 for 
the specific requirements. All motions must be submitted to the office that originally decided your case by 
filing a Form I-290B, Notice of Appeal or Motion, with a fee of $585. Any motion must be filed within 30 
days of the decision that the motion seeks to reconsider or reopen, as required by 8 C.F.R. $ 103.5(a)(l)(i). 
Chief, Administrative Appeals Office 
DISCUSSION: The employment-based immigrant visa petition was denied by the Director, Texas 
Service Center, and is now before the Administrative Appeals Office (AAO) on appeal. The appeal 
will be dismissed. 
This petition, filed on June 3, 2009, seeks to classify the petitioner pursuant to section 203(b)(2) of the 
Immigration and Nationality Act (the Act), 8 U.S.C. $ 1153(b)(2), as a member of the professions 
holding an advanced degree.' At the time she filed the petition, the petitioner was a graduate student 
and research assistant in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the New Jersey Institute of 
Technology (NJIT). The petitioner was also working as an "intern student" in the "Analytical 
Characterization group at Ethicon, a Johnson & Johnson company, in Somerville," New Jersey. The 
petitioner asserts that an exemption from the requirement of a job offer, and thus of a labor 
certification, is in the national interest of the United States. The director found that the petitioner 
qualifies for classification as a member of the professions holding an advanced degree, but that the 
petitioner has not established that an exemption from the requirement of a job offer would be in the 
national interest of the United States. 
On appeal, the petitioner argues that the benefits to the national interest from her future work 
"substantially outweigh the national interest in labor certification." For the reasons discussed below, we 
uphold the director's decision. 
Section 203(b) of the Act states in pertinent part that: 
(2) Aliens who are members of the professions holding advanced degrees or aliens of 
exceptional ability.-- 
(A) In general. -- Visas shall be made available . . . to qualified immigrants who are 
members of the professions holding advanced degrees or their equivalent or who 
because of their exceptional ability in the sciences, arts, or business, will substantially 
benefit prospectively the national economy, cultural or educational interests, or welfare 
of the United States, and whose services in the sciences, arts, professions, or business 
are sought by an employer in the United States. 
(B) Waiver of job offer. 
(i) . . . the Attorney General may, when the Attorney General deems it to 
be in the national interest, waive the requirements of subparagraph (A) 
that an alien's services in the sciences, arts, professions, or business be 
sought by an employer in the United States. 
The petitioner received her Master of Science degree in Biomedical Engineering from the NJIT in 2004. 
The director found that the petitioner qualifies as a member of the professions holding an advanced 
' At the time she filed the petition, the petitioner indicated that she was in the United States as an F-1 nonimmigrant 
student. 
degree. The sole issue in contention is whether the petitioner has established that a waiver of the job 
offer requirement, and thus a labor certification, is in the national interest. 
Neither the statute nor pertinent regulations define the term "national interest." Additionally, Congress 
did not provide a specific definition of the phrase, "in the national interest." The Committee on the 
Judiciary merely noted in its report to the Senate that the committee had "focused on national interest by 
increasing the number and proportion of visas for immigrants who would benefit the United States 
economically and otherwise. . . ." S. Rep. No. 55, 10 1 st Cong., 1 st Sess., 1 1 (1 989). 
A supplementary notice regarding the regulations implementing the Immigration Act of 1990 
(IMMACT), published at 56 Fed. Reg. 60897,60900 (November 29, 1991), states, in pertinent part: 
The Service believes it appropriate to leave the application of this test as flexible as possible, 
although clearly an alien seeking to meet the [national interest] standard must make a showing 
significantly above that necessary to prove the "prospective national benefit" [required of aliens 
seeking to qualifjr as "exceptional."] The burden will rest with the alien to establish that 
exemption fi-om, or waiver of, the job offer will be in the national interest. Each case is to be 
judged on its own merits. 
Matter of New York State Dep 't. of Trunsp., 22 I&N Dec. 2 15, 2 17- 18 (Comm'r. 1998) (hereinafter 
"NYSDOT"), has set forth several factors which must be considered when evaluating a request for a 
national interest waiver. First, it must be shown that the alien seeks employment in an area of 
substantial intrinsic merit. Id. at 217. Next, it must be shown that the proposed benefit will be national 
in scope. Id Finally, the petitioner seeking the waiver must establish that the alien will serve the 
national interest to a substantially greater degree than would an available U.S. worker having the same 
minimum qualifications. Id. at 21 7- 1 8. 
It must be noted that, while the national interest waiver hinges onprospective national benefit, it clearly 
must be established that the alien's past record justifies projections of future benefit to the national 
interest. Id. at 219. The petitioner's subjective assurance that the alien will, in the hture, serve the 
national interest cannot suffice to establish prospective national benefit. The inclusion of the term 
"prospective" is used here to require future contributions by the alien, rather than to facilitate the entry 
of an alien with no demonstrable prior achievements, and whose benefit to the national interest would 
thus be entirely speculative. Id. 
We also note that the regulation at 8 C.F.R. $ 204.5(k)(2) defines "exceptional ability" as "a degree 
of expertise significantly above that ordinarily encountered" in a given area of endeavor. By statute, 
aliens of exceptional ability are generally subject to the job offerllabor certification requirement; 
they are not exempt by virtue of their exceptional ability. Therefore, whether a given alien seeks 
classification as an alien of exceptional ability, or as a member of the professions holding an 
advanced degree, that alien cannot qualify for a waiver just by demonstrating a degree of expertise 
significantly above that ordinarily encountered in his or her field of expertise. 
We concur with the director's finding that the petitioner works in an area of intrinsic merit, 
biomaterials and orthopaedics, and that the proposed benefits of her work, research advancements in 
bone tissue engineering, would be national in scope. It remains, then, to determine whether the 
petitioner will benefit the national interest to a greater extent than an available U.S. worker with the 
same minimum qualifications. 
Eligibility for the waiver must rest with the alien's own qualifications rather than with the position 
sought. In other words, we generally do not accept the argument that a given project is so important 
that any alien qualified to work on this project must also qualify for a national interest waiver. Id. at 
218. Moreover, it cannot suffice to state that the alien possesses useful skills, or a "unique 
background." Special or unusual knowledge or training does not inherently meet the national 
interest threshold. The issue of whether similarly-trained workers are available in the United States 
is an issue under the jurisdiction of the Department of Labor. Id. at 221. 
At issue is whether this petitioner's contributions in the field are of such unusual significance that 
the petitioner merits the special benefit of a national interest waiver, over and above the visa 
classification he seeks. By seeking an extra benefit, the petitioner assumes an extra burden of proof. 
A petitioner must demonstrate a past history of achievement with some degree of influence on the 
field as a whole. Id. at 219, n. 6. In evaluating the petitioner's achievements, we note that original 
innovation, such as demonstrated by a patent, is insufficient by itself. Whether the specific 
innovation serves the national interest must be decided on a case-by-case basis. Id. at 221, n. 7. 
Along with documentation of her educational qualifications, work experience, symposium 
presentations, a patent application filed by her Ph.D. advisor, and an "article in press" she 
coauthored with her Ph.D. advisor which was submitted to Acta Biomaterialia, the petitioner 
submitted several letters of support. 
states: 
[The petitioner] is under my direct supervision for her Ph.D. work at New Jersey Institute of 
Technology. She has worked in my research group for more than three years, during which 
time she conducted outstanding research in the field of bone tissue engineering. . . . Within 
this field, [the petitioner] is currently researching on electrospun composite scaffold of 
polymer and bioceramics for bone tissue engineering. 
[The petitioner's] work in this field is definitely unique, novel and extraordinary because she 
has made multiple important innovative contributions to the field of electrospun composites. 
Specifically, she successfully produced electrospun scaffolds with uniformly dispersed 
ceramic along the fibers. Uniform dispersion of the ceramic along the fiber is required for 
improving the integration between the polymer and ceramic and improving the mechanical 
properties of the composites. Electrospun scaffolds normally have very small pore size, 
Page 5 
which is not desired for the scaffolds used for bone tissue engineering. However, [the 
petitioner] was able to produce electrospun scaffolds with large pore sizes. A large pore size 
is highly desired for efficient new bone formation because it allows the migration of the cells 
into the scaffolds and revascularization, which would ultimately form a new bone. [The 
petitioner's] other major accomplishment is in identifying that solvents could affect the 
properties of the electrospun composites. She fabricated scaffolds with novel architecture 
having a bimodal distribution of fibers having nano-size fibers in between micron size fibers. 
This architecture has proved to be favorable for osteogenesis from her in-vitro cell studies 
results. In her in-vitro cell studies, she further found her scaffolds to be osteoinductive, 
inducing the differentiation of the mesenchymal stem cells to bone forming cells, which is a 
great achievement in the field of electrospun scaffolds for bone tissue engineering. [The 
petitioner] reported all these accomplishments in several presentations at conferences and a 
journal paper, which will soon be published. We are also in the process of filing a patent 
application for the novel architecture, osteoinductive scaffold fabrication process. 
The petitioner submitted a copy of the United States Patent Application for "Electrospun Cerarnic- 
Polymer Composite as a Scaffold for Tissue Repair" assigned to the NJIT. This document identifies 
rather than the petitioner as the inventor of the process. Even if the petitioner were to 
demonstrate that she contributed significantly to this invention, an alien cannot secure a national interest 
waiver simply by demonstrating that he or she shares in a patent. Whether the specific innovation 
serves the national interest must be decided on a case-by-case basis. NYSDOT, 22 I&N Dec. at 221, n. 
7. In this instance, there is no evidence showing that this innovation has been licensed or utilized with 
significant success in the medical field. 
, Department of Biomedical Engineering and Chemistry, and 
Director of the Medical Device Concept Laboratory, NJIT, states: 
[The petitioner] was able to produce electrospun scaffolds with highest pore size reported to 
date. . . . [The petitioner's] study demonstrated that the solvent used in preparing the 
electrospun composite mats plays a critical role in determining fiber and pore dimension, 
which affect the new bone formation inside the body. Also, the scaffolds fabricated by [the 
petitioner] have a novel architecture with bimodal distribution of fibers having nano-size 
fibers in between micron size fibers. From her in-vitro cell studies results she found this 
architecture to be favorable for osteogenesis. She further found the scaffolds to be 
osteoinductive, inducing the differentiation of the mesenchymal stem cells to bone forming 
cells, which can be counted as a great accomplishment in the field of electrospun scaffolds 
for bone tissue engineering. 
The scaffolds fabricated by [the petitioner] may represent the effective optimal solution for 
bone regeneration, making tissue engineering a realistic clinical alternative in the near future. 
The promise of combined advantages of the composite phases, as well as the inherent ease in 
optimization where desired material properties can be accentuated in a well-controlled 
Page 6 
manner, have made [the petitioner's] research attractive for biomedical applications. Apart 
from that, [the petitioner] has done excellent work with the physical characterization using 
techniques like scanning electron microscope, differential scanning calorimetry, 
therrnogravimetric analysis, powder X-ray diffraction, fourier transform infrared 
spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy. 
does not provide specific examples of how the petitioner's research findings have 
influenced the field as a whole. With regard to statement regarding the petitioner's 
utilization of physical characterization techniques, simple training in advanced technology or unusual 
knowledge, while perhaps attractive to the prospective U.S. employer, does not inherently meet the 
national interest threshold. Id. at 221. further states that the petitioner's "prolific research 
record is very impressive and presents a highly beneficial future for the U.S.," but there is no 
evidence showing that her work has been frequently cited by independent researchers or that it has 
otherwise significantly impacted her field. 
Director of the Medical Device Concept Laboratory, NJIT, states: 
I have been closely associated with [the petitioner] and her laboratory research since she first 
entered graduate school as a Masters student. I closely co-advised the successful completion 
of her Masters degree on polymer electrospinning. I am very well aware of [the petitioner's] 
Ph.D. research because our laboratory (MDCL) very closely collaborates with the laboratory 
where she conducts her research; indeed, I am on [the petitioner's] thesis committee. 
[The petitioner's] fabricated scaffolds have a great potential to be used for repairing 
craniofacial defects in particular and I am confident that her contributions would improve the 
current treatment methods. 
comments on what could one day result from the petitioner's work at the NJIT rather 
than providing specific examples of how her past research has already significantly impacted the 
field.- A petition& cannot file a petition underthis classification based on the expectation of future 
eligibility. See Mutter of Katigbuk, 14 I&N Dec. 45,49 (Reg'l. Comm'r. 1971). 
[The petitioner's] special combination of extensive knowledge in polymer processing, 
material characterization and in-vitro cell behavior makes her an extremely valuable 
specialist in the United States research community, and I believe that it would be difficult to 
find [sic] researcher with her special combination of skills who can conduct research in this 
specialized area of biomaterials and tissue engineering. 
Page 7 
As previously discussed, it cannot suffice to state that the alien possesses useful skills, or a "unique 
background." Special or unusual knowledge or training does not inherently meet the national 
interest threshold. The issue of whether similarly-trained workers are available in the U.S. is an 
issue under the jurisdiction of the Department of Labor. NYSDOT, 22 I&N Dec. at 22 1. 
, Department of Analytical Characterization,, a 
Johnson & Johnson company in Somerville, New Jersey, states: 
At Ethicon, [the petitioner] is working on hydrolytic degradation studies of major 
biodegradable products - an emerging field. . . . [The petitioner] carries excellent experience 
from her Ph.D. work at NJIT, which she has been able to use here at Ethicon in advancing 
our studies of biodegradable polymeric materials. 
[The petitioner] has made substantial contributions to the studies of in-vitro biodegradability 
of newly developed polymeric implant devices and also in improving the materials currently 
in research at Ethicon. . . . [The petitioner] is involved in conducting in-vitro degradation 
studies in accelerated hydrolytic conditions. With regards to this research, she has made 
multiple important contributions at Ethicon, particularly in advancing the understanding of 
degradation kinetics of Ethicon's major sutures using Arrhenius equation, which was used 
for predicting the degradation time of the sutures at patient's body temperature. Moreover, 
[the petitioner] has also written software for editing large amounts of data generated by the 
hydrolytic degradation studies performed at Ethicon. This contribution has allowed the 
company's research team to trim data filtration efforts from one hour to three minutes and 
has been definitely recognized as a major accomplishment to efficiently conduct hydrolytic 
degradation studies at Ethicon. Apart from that she has presented in several company R&D 
conferences highlighting her work at Ethicon and has also co-authored two papers which are 
in the process of being finalized. 
while indicates that the petitioner has contributed to ongoing research at Ethicon, Inc., he 
does not provide specific examples of how the petitioner's work for the company has influenced the 
field as whole. 
Genetics, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey -New Jersey Medical School, states: 
[The petitioner] was able to produce electrospun fibers that had uniformly dispersed ceramic 
along the fibers. The uniformly dispersed ceramic component produces a "bone-friendly" 
fiber that can be used to generate scaffolds for bone tissue engineering applications. Among 
the very few researchers working with this fabrication method, [the petitioner] easily stands 
out as one of the best. The electrospun scaffolds produced by [the petitioner] have a large 
pore size that assists in host cell migration into the scaffold, an important parameter in tissue 
engineering. Use of the composite, nano-size fibers enables [the petitioner] to produce 
scaffolds with novel architecture and scaled features (nanometer to micron) for customized 
applications. Her studies have shown that a combination of micro and nano fibers in the 
scaffold architecture is more favorable for new tissue formation. [The petitioner's] work also 
involves working with mesenchyamal stem cells, definitely an upcoming research area in the 
field of regenerative medicine. Stem cells have the potential to differentiate into various cell 
types like bone, cartilage and fat tissue. Through in-vitro experiments, she found that the 
scaffolds she fabricated induced mesenchymal stem cells to form bone, which is a significant 
achievement in the bone tissue engineering field. [The petitioner] presented these 
achievements at national and international conferences like the Society for Biomaterials 
(SFB) and the North East Bioengineering conference (NEBC) and her work has been 
submitted publication. 
expresses his o inion that the petitioner's "findings will contribute novel methods for 
bone repair." Similarly, & has opined that "[tlhere will be tremendous advancement in the 
field of tissue engineering with the [the petitioner's] research." With regard to the witnesses of 
record, many of them express their future predictions regarding the impact of petitioner's work, 
rather than how her past research has already influenced the field as a whole. As previously 
discussed, a petitioner cannot file a petition under this classification based on the expectation of 
future eligibility. See Mutter of Kutigbak, 14 I&N Dec. at 49. 
[The petitioner's] contribution to the field of electrospun composite for bone tissue 
engineering is remarkable. She successfully fabricated the electrospun composites, 
extensively characterized them, and conducted in-vitro cell studies on the scaffolds, to find 
their potential to be used for in-vivo studies. Her work is extraordinary when compared to 
other researchers working in similar fields as a result of her ability to produce scaffolds with 
uniform dispersion of the ceramic along the fiber, which is a very significant achievement 
because ceramic, as an inorganic material, does not typically disperse well in polymers. 
Uniform dispersion of the ceramic along the fibers is required for the better integration 
between the ceramic and polymer. The uniqueness surrounding her results is that she was 
able to produce scaffolds with novel architecture displaying nano size fibers forming a web- 
like network in between micron size fibers. The in-vitro cell studies [the petitioner] 
conducted using mesenchymal stem cells showed that the novel architecture was 
osteoinductive, proving it to be very favorable for osteogenesis. Moreover, the scaffolds 
fabricated by [the petitioner] have the highest pore size reported to date in the field of 
electrospinning. Also, [the petitioner's] research demonstrated that the solvent used for 
electrospinning significantly affected the dispersion, fiber size, pore size, porosity, 
roughness, thermal, and mechanical properties of the electrospun composites . . . . All these 
achievements were presented in several conferences. 
While the petitioner's research is no doubt of value, it can be argued that any research must be 
shown to be original and present some benefit if it is to receive funding and attention from the 
scientific community. Any Ph.D. thesis or postdoctoral research, in order to be accepted for 
graduation, publication, presentation, or funding, must offer new and useful information to the pool 
of knowledge. It does not follow that every researcher who performs original research that adds to 
the general pool of knowledge inherently serves the national interest to an extent that justifies a 
waiver of the job offer requirement. 
The director requested further evidence that the petitioner had met the guidelines published in 
NYSDOT. In response, the petitioner two additional letters of support and an "Uncorrected Proof' of 
the article submitted to Acta Biomaterialia for publication. 
University College of Dentistry, states: 
[The petitioner] successfully fabricated mechanically flexible composite scaffolds with a 
maximum concentration of bioactive ceramic that is still flexible, overcoming the limitations 
of brittle ceramics which are difficult to shape. The uniqueness about her scaffolds is the 
bimodal size distribution of their component fibers, which are in micron and nano-size 
ranges, representing architecture very beneficial for bone cells. She also produced large pore 
sized scaffolds, which are required for cell infiltration and bone tissue in-growth. Her 
scaffolds represent the highest pore size reported to date in the literature of electrospun 
scaffolds. Producing large pore sizes using this technique is in itself a great achievement 
because electrospinning process normally produces small pore sizes below the dimension of 
the size of a cell, resulting in poor cell infiltration and limited tissue in-growth in vivo. The 
significance of her work is that she achieved large pore size and bimodal fiber distribution 
with a very simple process, by varying the solvent used for spinning. Also, she obtained 
fibers with homogeneous dispersion of the ceramic, which is required for improved 
molecular interaction and mechanical properties. To achieve homogeneous dispersion is a 
significant accomplishment because ceramic being an inorganic material does not disperse 
well in polymers. . . . [The petitioner's] innovative study on the effect of solvent on the 
structure of electrospun composites has made a tremendous contribution to the field and is a 
very thorough body of work. These accomplishments will soon be published in the journal 
Acta Biomaterialia (accepted 07-20-09). 
The research findings discussed bywere unpublished as of the petition's June 3, 2009 filing 
date. A petitioner, however, must establish eligibility at the time of filing. 8 C.F.R. $5 103.2(b)(l), 
(12); Matter of Katigbak, 14 I&N Dec. at 49. Accordingly, the AAO will not consider this 
subsequently published article in this proceeding. Publishing a journal article after June 3, 2009 
does not constitute evidence that the petitioner's work was already influential in the field as of that 
date. 
[The petitioner's] work focuses on developing a scaffold addressing the issues that must be 
considered for the effective application of bioceramics in the field of tissue engineering such 
as the degree of bioresorption and the poor mechanical strength. She did a thorough 
characterization of the fabricated composites and a thorough investigation of the effect of 
solvent on the structure of electrospun composites in order to improve cell infiltration into 
the mesh by increasing pore size. Typical electrospun scaffolds have very small pore sizes, 
which are not suitable as scaffolds for bone tissue engineering. [The petitioner] successfully 
produced electrospun scaffolds with pore sizes large enough for the cells to migrate into the 
scaffolds for the bone in growth, which is required for a scaffold to be used for bone repair. 
The pore sizes she obtained are the highest reported to-date in case of electrospun scaffolds. 
[The petitioner] successfully fabricated electrospun fibrous composites with uniform fiber 
morphologies and ceramic dispersions. Uniform dispersion of the ceramic along the fiber 
helps improving the integration between the polymers and ceramic, where she was able to 
obtain big change in the glass transition values reported to date in case of electrospun 
composites. The uniqueness of her work is the bimodal distribution of fibers generating both 
large and fine porous structures, which are new contributions to the field. . . . [The petitioner] 
reported all these accomplishments in the journal paper which is accepted and will soon be 
published (Acta Biomater (2009)' doi: 10.10 16/j.actbio.2009.07.028). 
Even if we were to consider the petitioner's Acta Biomaterialia article in this proceeding, we note 
that publication in journals and in conference proceedings is inherent to scientific re~earch.~ For this 
reason, we will evaluate a citation history or other evidence of the impact of the petitioner's 
published and presented findings when determining their significance to the field. For example, 
numerous independent citations for an article authored by the petitioner would provide solid 
evidence that other researchers have been influenced by her work and are familiar with it. On the 
other hand, few or no citations of an article authored by the petitioner may indicate that her work has 
gone largely unnoticed by her field. In this case, there is no citation history or other evidence 
showing that her work has significantly influenced her field as a whole or otherwise sets her apart 
from other researchers in the field. 
The director denied the petition stating that the petitioner failed to establish that a waiver of the 
requirement of an approved labor certification would be in the national interest of the United States. 
The director's decision noted a lack of evidence showing that the petitioner's work has been 
frequently cited to by others in her field. 
On appeal, the petitioner states: 
2 For "Biological Scientists," the Department of Labor's Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2010-1 1 Edition (accessed at 
http://www.bls.gov/oco/), states that a "solid record of published research is essential in obtaining a permanent position 
involving basic research." See h~,://data.bls.gov!c~i-bin/print.pl/oco/ocos047.htm, accessed on April 23, 2010, copy 
incorporated into the record of proceeding. The handbook also provides information about the nature of employment as a 
postsecondary teacher (professor) and the requirements for such a position. See ht!~~://data.bls.~ov/c~i- 
bin/~rint.v~oco/ocos066.htm, accessed on April 23,2010, copy incorporated into the record of proceeding. The handbook 
expressly states that faculty members are pressured to perform research and publish their work and that the professor's 
research record is a consideration for tenure. Moreover, the doctoral programs training students for faculty positions require a 
dissertation, or written report on original research. Id. This information reinforces USCIS's position that authorship of 
journal articles does not set the petitioner apart from others in her field; we must consider the research community's reaction 
to those articles. 
I do agree citations are the best way to judge the impact of the applicants work. However, 
officer should also consider the fact that it is not uncommon for a work not to be published 
immediately in spite of the work being publishable. In my case lack of citations is because 
my work is most recent when the NIW [national interest waiver] application was filed for it 
to be cited by others. Therefore, I appeal the officer to instead consider the comments of the 
experts in my field to judge the impact of my work. 
We agree with the petitioner that citations are not the only means by which to show her impact on 
her field. Independent witness letters can play a significant role in this respect. Here, however, the 
petitioner has submitted only a few such letters, which collectively fail to establish the depth or 
extent of her influence on the field.3 Simply listing her research findings cannot suffice in this 
regard, because all doctoral students and biomedical researchers are arguably expected to produce 
original work. 
With further regard to the letters of support, USCIS may, in its discretion, use as advisory opinion 
statements submitted as expert testimony. See Matter of Caron International, 19 I&N Dec. 791, 795 
(Commr. 1988). However, USCIS is ultimately responsible for making the final determination 
regarding an alien's eligibility for the benefit sought. Id. The submission of letters of support from 
individuals selected by the petitioner is not presumptive evidence of eligibility; USCIS may evaluate 
the content of those letters as to whether they support the alien's eligibility. See id at 795. USCIS 
may even give less weight to an opinion that is not corroborated, in accord with other information or 
is in any way questionable. Id. at 795; see also Matter of Sofjci, 22 I&N Dec. 158, 165 (Commr. 
1998) (citing Matter of Treasure Crajt of California, 14 I&N Dec. 190 (Regl. Commr. 1972)). In 
this case, the content of the reference letters submitted by the petitioner does not establish that her 
work at the time of filing had already had a significant national impact or otherwise influenced her 
field as a whole. 
established that her past record of achievement is at a level that would justify a waiver of the job 
offer requirement which, by law, normally attaches to the visa classification sought by the petitioner. 
We note that the petitioner need not demonstrate notoriety on the scale of national acclaim, but the 
national interest waiver contemplates that her influence be national in scope. NYSDOT, 22 I&N 
Dec. at 217 n.3. More specifically, the petitioner "must clearly present a significant benefit to the 
field of endeavor." Id. at 218. See also id. at 219 n.6 (the alien must have "a past history of 
demonstrable achievement with some degree of influence on the field as a whole.") 
As is clear fiom a plain reading of the statute, it was not the intent of Congress that every alien of 
exceptional ability should be exempt fiom the requirement of a job offer based on national interest. 
Aside from the letter of support from of the New York University College of Dentistry, all of the reference 
letters submitted by the petitioner are from individuals who work in New Jersey. Such a limited geographic distribution 
of witnesses does not establish the petitioner's national impact in the United States or her influence over the field as a 
whole. 
Likewise, it does not appear to have been the intent of Congress to grant national interest waivers on the 
basis of the overall importance of a given occupation, rather than on the merits of the individual alien. 
On the basis of the evidence submitted, the petitioner has not established that a waiver of the 
requirement of an approved alien employment certification will be in the national interest of the United 
States. 
The burden of proof in these proceedings rests solely with the petitioner. Section 291 of the Act, 
8 U.S.C. $ 1361. The petitioner has not sustained that burden. 
This denial is without prejudice to the filing of a new petition by a United States employer accompanied 
by an alien employment certification certified by the Department of Labor, appropriate supporting 
evidence and fee. 
ORDER: The appeal is dismissed.