dismissed EB-2 NIW Case: Polymer Chemistry

U.S. Department of Homeland Security 
20 Mass. Ave., N.W., Rm. A3042 
Washington, DC 20529 
U.S. Citizenship 
and Immigration1 
FILE: Office: VERMONT SERVICE CENTER Date: jilh 1 2 
4 
IN RE: 
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, 8 1153(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. 
u. %obert P. Wiemann, D~rector 
Administrative Appeals Office 
DISCUSSION: The Director, Vermont Service Center, denied the employment-based immigrant visa petition. 
The matter is now before the Administrative Appeals Office (AAO) on appeal. The appeal will be dismissed. 
We note that the record contains submissions from various attorneys at the law firm of Zhang & Associates. 
The term "counsel" shall apply, here, to each of these attorneys as appropriate. 
The petitioner seeks classification pursuant to section 203(b)(2) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (the Act), 
8 U.S.C. fj 1153(b)(2), as a member of the professions holding an advanced degree. At the time he filed the 
petition, the petitioner was a polymer chemist at Triton Systems, Inc. (TSI). The petitioner asserts that an 
exemption fkom 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. 
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 Unitecl 
States. 
The director did not dispute that the petitioner qualifies as a member of the professions holding an advanced 
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 the pertinent regulations define the term "national interest." Additionally, Congress did 
not provide a specific definition of "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, 
lOlst Cong., 1st Sess., 11 (1989). 
Supplementary information to regulations implementing the Immigration Act of 1990 (IMMACT), published at 
56 Fed. Reg. 60897,60900 (November 29, 1991), states: 
The Service [now Citizenship and Immigration Services (CIS)] 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 seelung to qualify as "exceptional."] The 
burden will rest with the alien to establish that exemption from, 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 Dept. of Transportation, 22 I&N Dec. 215 (Cornm. 1998), 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. Next, it must be shown that the proposed 
benefit will be national in scope. Finally, the petitioner seelung 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. 
It must be noted that, while the national interest waiver hinges on prospective national benefit, it clearly must be 
established that the alien's past record justifies projections of future benefit to the national interest. The 
petitioner's subjective assurance that the alien will, in the future, 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. 
Counsel states that the petitioner's "research is focused on the synthesis, characterization and processing of 
novel advanced polymers to be integrated into NASA programs." The petitioner submits several witness 
letters discussing the petitioner's work in detail. Of the 13 original witnesses, five are on the faculties of 
universities where the petitioner studied, six work (or did work) at companies that have employed the 
petitioner, and the remaining two have collaborated with the petitioner. Thus, the composition of the group of 
witnesses is not prima facie evidence that the petitioner's work has attracted attention or otherwise had 
influence beyond his own supervisors and collaborators. We shall discuss examples of these letters here. 
Professor Samuel P. Sawan supervised the petitioner's doctoral studies at the University of Massachusetts, 
Lowell. Prof. Sawan describes the petitioner's work at the university: 
[The petitioner's] thesis research was entitled "Biomimetic Surfaces: Generating Biological 
Like Surfaces Using Dense Gas Technology." This project addresses a number of interesting 
applications including the creation of better biocompatible materials for medical devices ancl 
technology using environmentally responsible approaches. The approach taken and the 
results obtained were new, inventive and novel and can have a significant impact on medical 
device technology. . . . His research addressed means of preparing surfaces that . . . would be 
present in the body and appear normal to the body's immune system. . . . The consequences 
of surface modification strategies using environmentally safe approaches have broad appeal 
to a number of industries outside of the medical community. Therefore the results of hi:; 
research have broad technical appeal to a wide audience. 
Professor Edwin G.E. Jahngen of the University of Massachusetts, Lowell, states that the petitioner "has 
pioneered several areas of work ranging from new analytical methods to the discovery of novel compounds. 
The most novel and significant area in my opinion is his new foray into the use of biomolecules to render 
surfaces of externally communicating medical devices antimicrobial. sits on the board of 
directors of TSI, the petitioner's current employer. There is no indi M d that the petitioner 
continues to work on materials used in medical equipment, and the record contains no independent 
documentation to show the extent to which manufacturers of medical equipment use materials that the 
petitioner developed in the past. 
TSI's mission is the development of technology for new materials, processing and 
applications in aerospace, military, medical, electronic, consumer, and industrial markets. . . . 
I . . . have worked closely with [the petitioner] on projects involving the synthesis and 
processing of new high performance polymers. [The petitioner] and I have worked with other 
professionals at TSI to successfully complete new and highly specialized experimental 
procedures which we believe will result in new materials and processing for applications such 
as flexible plastic display screens, flexible low cost polymeric transistors, high density 
inexpensive memories for computers, lightweight rapid repair for composite materials, ant1 
small scale fluid handling systems. . . . 
[The petitioner] has proven himself to be a key contributor to our technology development 
projects. . . . 
[The petitioner] has proven himself to be an outstanding achiever in our group of talented 
professionals. Working independently, he identified polymers that can be processed 111 
thickness over 10 times greater than previously achieved, using low cost materials that solve 
structural problems for repairing high performance aircraft components. . . . 
' Since [the petitioner] is a key contributor on efforts such as this, our ability to deliver 
successful results to meet these important objectives may be reduced if he needs to leave our 
service for an extended period of time. 
I have known [the petitioner] for over one year, worlung closely with him on an important 
research project sponsored by the U.S. Air Force. . . . 
[The petitioner] has been directing the technical effort as Principle [sic] Investigator on a 
NASA program entitled "Advanced Clear Space Durable Polymer for Ultra-Lightweight 
Structures and Optics." In this program, he has developed a novel synthetic route to produce 
a colorless space durable polymer, TOR-NC. He has optimized the polymerization reaction 
of TOR-NC to consistently produce high molecular weight, low polydispersity polymer with 
good materials characteristics (optical and mechanical). [The petitioner] has also beer1 
working on a U.S. Air Force SBIR program that developed new resin systems and novel 
polymerization approaches for curing thick composite structures using two-photor~ 
technology. We are currently optimizing the formulations for various resin systems to 
achieve more efficient polymerization that will allow the curing of even thicker structures. 
Through this on-going research, this technique will be potentially developed into a non.. 
autoclave repair process for aircraft. 
- senior polymer scientist at NASA Langley Research Center, states: 
[The petitioner's] contributions to this program have been creative, innovative and extremely 
valuable to its overall success. He is responsible for the synthesis, characterization ancl 
processing of a novel phosphine oxide containing polyimide that has a unique combination of 
properties that are important to NASA for future advanced spacecraft, particularly large ultra 
lightweight deployable spacecraft also referred to as Gossamer spacecraft. This unique 
combination of properties includes atomic oxygen resistance, ultraviolet radiation resistance, 
high optical transmission, low solar absorptivity and flexibility. This development represents 
a significant advancement over the state-of-the-art and is the first time that such a material 
has been prepared. 
[The petitioner's] contributions to this program include the development of a novel synthetic 
route to produce a colorless, space durable polyimide and optimization of the polymerizatiori 
process. The innovative technique provides a path to consistently produce high molecular 
weight polymer with very good yield and is easily scalable. He further developed and 
optimized a method to produce thin film with excellent optical and mechanical properties. 
Beyond the witness letters, the petitioner submits documentation showing that one of his presentations was 
accepted for publication in the proceedings of that conference. 
The director denied the petition on December 28, 2004. The director acknowledged the intrinsic rnerit and 
national scope of the petitioner's work, and stated that the petitioner "has made numerous original 
contributions that have advanced the field of polymer science." On balance, however, the director concluded 
that the initial submission showed only that the petitioner "has been a valuable resource to his employer." 
On appeal, counsel asserts that the petitioner has accumulated a record of accomplishments that is sufficient 
to meet the threshold set forth in Matter of New York State Dept. of Transportation. Counsel states, for 
instance, that the petitioner "developed a novel approach for biomaterials with surfaces that mimic natural 
body tissues, thus not triggering the body's immune reaction." The record, however, is devoid of evidence to 
show how widely, if at all, these materials are actually being used in medicine, or that plans are underway to 
manufacture and use the materials. The development of these materials is not, by itself, significant unless the 
materials are actually put to use, and the use thereof actually alleviates the problems that the materials were 
intended to address. The burden is on the petitioner to establish that these materials are, in fact, being used, or 
that entities in a position to manufacture and distribute the materials are implementing plans to do so. 
The petitioner submits three new letters on appealprogram manager of the Polymer 
Chemistry Program at the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, states: 
[The petitioner] has made research contributions that are important to the Department of 
Defense. Through the years of 2001 and 2002, he participated in two projects at Tritori 
Systems, Inc. that were supported by this office. One was on Space Ready Polymer to 
develop polymers that are resistant to atomic oxygen attack at Low Earth Orbit. The other 
project was on High Temperature Matrix Composites for structural applications in high 
temperature environments. I met [the petitioner] during the contract periods of these two 
projects, synthesizing and characterizing new polymer structures that are targeted to address 
the two technical goals. . . . His contributions were instrumental to the successful completiori 
of these two material research projects. 
ow a senior project engineer at as formerly a project scientist at TSI. 
He states: 
I am familiar with much of the work that [the petitioner] performed at Triton and his work 
before and since his employment at Triton. 
Through the results of his work, [the petitioner] demonstrated expertise in a number of areas 
of significance to the national interest including space-durable polymers and two-photon 
absorbing materials and resins. . . . 
[The petitioner significantly improved the curing depth and curing time of two-photon based 
systems during his work at Triton. In addition, their high sensitivity may make them key 
enabling technologies in optical computing for optical data storage and in the fabrication of 
optical filters and band gap devices. 
We recall, here, f ornment that "Since [the petitioner] is a key contributor on effurts such 
as this, our ability to deliver success ul results to meet these may be reduced if he needs 
to leave our service for an extended period of time." As shown b to the.petitionerls 
"work . . . since his employment at Triton," the petitioner for reasons unrelated to 
immigration concerns.' ' The petitioner's departure from TSI obviously -nullifies the argument that the 
petitioner's continued employment at TSI is in the national interest. 
Dr. Joseph G. Smith, Jr., senior polymer scientist at NASA Langley Research Center, states: 
I am not a co-worker, colleague, or collaborator of [the petitioner's]. I became aware of his 
technicaI expertise while I was a technical monitor of a NASA SBIR contract entitled 
"Advanced Clear Space Durable Polymer for Ultra-Lightweight Structures and Optics." This 
contract was awarded to Triton System[s] Inc. and [the petitioner] was the program manager 
of this project from January 2002 to May 2002. Thanks to [the petitioner's] contributions in 
this project, his research efforts resulted in a novel polyimide that exhibited a unique 
combination of properties that included atomic oxygen and ultraviolet radiation resistance, 
high optical transmission, low solar absorptivity, and flexibility. These special material 
properties are of importance to NASA for potential utilization of the polymer on future 
advanced spacecraft, particular large ultra lightweight deployable spacecraft also referred to 
as Gossamer spacecraft. 
[The petitioner] developed a novel synthetic methodology and optimized the polymerization 
conditions to prepare this colorless, space durable polyimide. . . . The novel colorles!~ 
polyimide developed by [the petitioner] is a promising material that I expect will meet future 
requirements for advanced ultra lightweight deployable spacecraft of interest to DOD and 
NASA. 
"it is critically important for the United States to retain talented research scientists like" the 
petitioner. He does not address the petitioner's departure fiom TSI or show that the petitioner's subsequent 
work has involved projects of comparable importance. 
I The present petition was filed on November 21, 2002. CIS records show that less than eight weeks later, on January 
13, 2003, a different company filed an 1-129 nonimmigrant petition on the alien's behalf. That petition was approved a 
short time later. 
The record shows that the petitioner is more than competent at his job as a polymer chemist, solving problems 
and achieving goals for his various employers. While the witnesses clearly hold the petitioner and his, work in 
high regard, their statements amount to a list of the petitioner's activities rather than persuasive evidence that 
the petitioner has distinguished himself from other polymer chemists. The record does not show that the 
petitioner's contributions to the field of polymer chemistry, or to the various fields affected by his work, have 
had (or are likely to have) so significant an impact as to warrant the special benefit of a national interest 
waiver. The petitioner's brief involvement in a NASA project does not establish that the petitioner sl:rves the 
national interest to the same extent that NASA, as in institution, does. 
As is clear from a plain reading of the statute, it was not the intent of Congress that every person qualified to 
engage in a profession in the United States should be exempt from the requirement of a job offer based on 
national interest. 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 profession, rather than on the merits of the iindividual 
alien. On the basis of the evidence submitted, the petitioner has not established that a waiver of the req,uirement 
of an approved labor 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. 4 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 a 
labor certification issued by the Department of Labor, appropriate supporting evidence and fee. 
ORDER: The appeal is dismissed.