dismissed EB-2 NIW Case: Robotics

U.S. Citizenship 
and Immigration 
Services 
In Re: 23058854 
Appeal of Texas Service Center Decision 
Non-Precedent Decision of the 
Administrative Appeals Office 
Date: NOV . 8, 2022 
Form 1-140, Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker (Advanced Degree, Exceptional Ability, National 
Interest Waiver) 
The Petitioner seeks second preference immigrant classification as a member of the professions 
holding an advanced degree or as an individual of exceptional ability, as well as a national interest 
waiver of the job offer requirement attached to this EB-2 classification. See Immigration and 
Nationality Act (the Act) section 203(b)(2), 8 U.S.C. § 1153(b)(2). 
The Director of the Texas Service Center denied the petition, concluding that the Petitioner qualified 
for classification as a member of the professions holding an advanced degree, but that he had not 
established that a waiver of the required job offer, and thus of the labor certification, would be in the 
national interest. 
On appeal, the Petitioner submits additional documentation and a brief asserting that he is eligible for 
a national interest waiver. In these proceedings, it is the petitioner's burden to establish eligibility for 
the immigration benefit sought. Section 291 of the Act, 8 U.S.C. § 1361. Upon de nova review, we 
will dismiss the appeal. 
I. LAW 
To establish eligibility for a national interest waiver, a petitioner must first demonstrate qualification 
for the underlying EB-2 visa classification, as either an advanced degree professional or an individual 
of exceptional ability in the sciences, arts, or business. Because this classification requires that the 
individual's services be sought by a U.S. employer, a separate showing is required to establish that a 
waiver of the job offer requirement is in the national interest. 
Section 203 (b) of the Act sets out this sequential framework: 
(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 ofjob offer-
(i) National interest waiver. ... [T]he 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. 
While neither the statute nor the pertinent regulations define the term "national interest," we set forth 
a framework for adjudicating national interest waiver petitions in the precedent decision Matter of 
Dhanasar, 26 I&N Dec. 884 (AAO 2016). Dhanasar states that after a petitioner has established 
eligibility for EB-2 classification, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) may, as matter 
of discretion 1, grant a national interest waiver if the petitioner demonstrates: ( 1) that the foreign 
national's proposed endeavor has both substantial merit and national importance; (2) that the foreign 
national is well positioned to advance the proposed endeavor; and (3) that, on balance, it would be 
beneficial to the United States to waive the requirements of a job offer and thus of a labor certification. 
The first prong, substantial merit and national importance, focuses on the specific endeavor that the 
foreign national proposes to undertake. The endeavor's merit may be demonstrated in a range of areas 
such as business, entrepreneurialism, science, technology, culture, health, or education. In 
determining whether the proposed endeavor has national importance, we consider its potential 
prospective impact. 
The second prong shifts the focus from the proposed endeavor to the foreign national. To determine 
whether he or she is well positioned to advance the proposed endeavor, we consider factors including, 
but not limited to: the individual's education, skills, knowledge and record of success in related or 
similar efforts; a model or plan for future activities; any progress towards achieving the proposed 
endeavor; and the interest of potential customers, users, investors, or other relevant entities or 
individuals. 
The third prong requires the petitioner to demonstrate that, on balance, it would be beneficial to the 
United States to waive the requirements of a job offer and thus of a labor certification. In performing 
this analysis, USCIS may evaluate factors such as: whether, in light of the nature of the foreign 
national's qualifications or the proposed endeavor, it would be impractical either for the foreign 
national to secure a job offer or for the petitioner to obtain a labor certification; whether, even assuming 
that other qualified U.S. workers are available, the United States would still benefit from the foreign 
national's contributions; and whether the national interest in the foreign national's contributions is 
sufficiently urgent to warrant forgoing the labor certification process. In each case, the factor(s) 
1 See also Poursina v. USCIS, No. 17-16579, 2019 WL 4051593 (Aug. 28, 2019) (finding USCIS' decision to grant or 
deny a national interest waiver to be discretionary in nature). 
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considered must, taken together, indicate that on balance, it would be beneficial to the United States 
to waive the requirements of a job offer and thus of a labor certification. 2 
II. ANALYSIS 
The Diretor determined that Petitioner qualifies as a member of the professions holding an advanced 
degree. The remaining issue to be determined is whether the Petitioner has established that a waiver of 
the requirement of a job offer, and thus a labor certification, would be in the national interest. For the 
reasons discussed below, we conclude that the Petitioner has not sufficiently demonstrated the national 
importance of his proposed endeavor under the first prong of the Dhanasar analytical framework. 
With respect to his proposed endeavor, the Petitioner initially indicated that he intends to work in the 
United States "focusing on innovation of intelligent and robotic products for sweeping and floor washing 
and mowing in commercial sites environmentally friendly, to provide more efficient, cheaper and safer 
effective robotic solutions for the labor shortage problems and challenges in related fields caused by the 
aging population." 
The Director issued a request for evidence (RFE) asking the Petitioner to provide further information 
and evidence regarding his proposed endeavor in the United States. In response, the Petitioner offered 
a "Personal Plan" asserting that he intends to "start a company in the U.S. and pay the wages of American 
workers, as well as the production and sales of products for the first stage." The Petitioner further stated: 
[I]n addition to setting up what company in the U.S. so as to produce consumer robots and 
provide commercial technology services for companies or manufacturers in the relevant 
fields in the U.S., I will: 
• Establish a U.S.-based intelligent remote-control cloud computing center that can 
reach robots across the world to provide data-acquisition analysis and intelligent 
remote-control services for the intelligent Internet of Things (IoT) and service 
robots sold across the globe. 
• Provide consulting service to local companies, helping them to achieve better 
object recognition and intelligent obstacle-avoidance functions for industrial and 
domestic robots. 
• Invest in and achieve more intelligent, environmentally friendly, and safer 
commercial robot products in the field of sanitation, cleaning, and maintenance, 
such as commercial sweeping and floor washing and mowing, in order to cope 
with the labor problems and challenges caused by the aging population. 
• Over the long-term, establish an independent service robotics brand and hire US.­
based software engineer and sales teams, to make the products meet and adapt to 
the local application scenarios. 
The Petitioner's "Personal Plan" includes information about global and U.S. talent shortages, the value 
of highly-skilled immigrants, technological innovation as a key to economic growth, the artificial 
2 See Dhanasar, 26 I&N Dec. at 888-91, for elaboration on these three prongs. 
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intelligence talent gap, the growing demand for robotics engineering jobs, and U.S. worker shortages. 3 
In addition, his plan offers general information about scientific research and development in the United 
States, demand determinants in his industry, business location considerations, and adoption of service 
robots. The plan also includes the Petitioner's professional summary, testimonials from colleagues, 
and a discussion of how he will contribute to U.S. technological interests. 
The Petitioner's RFE response contains an Investopedia article, entitled 'The 5 Industries Driving the 
U.S. Economy." This article indicates that the tech sector represents a major component of the U.S. 
economy and that employment in computer and information technology is expected to grow more than 
ten percent over ten years. The article further states: 'The impact of the tech industry has affected 
nearly every state and ... the industry is ranked in the top five of economic contributors in 22 states 
and in the top ten of 42 states." 
The record also includes letters of support from colleagues who oversaw the Petitioner's work. For 
example, his former mentor, I I asserted that the Petitioner is conducting important 
work "in the area of Robotics, as he bridges this technology with the Internet of Things . . . . At 
robotics companies across America, the comingling of engineering and science is producing some 
truly innovative products - things that do what humans have typically done, only better." I I 
further indicated that "the interconnected aspects of robotics and Io T significantly advance 
technology" and that the Petitioner "is at the forefront" of this work. 
Likewise, ___ former Senior General Manager at __ stated: 
Cloud technologies have transformed the way people live and perform daily tasks, and 
now, cloud technology has come to robotics. Servers are designed to store and manage 
data, run applications, and deliver content. These applications are now seeing massive 
growth in the robotic industries' space, as cloud robotics are enabling the use of cloud 
computing, cloud storage, and other technologies that focus on a centralized infrastructure 
and the benefits of shared services .... Cloud robotics allows for higher levels of human 
robot interaction and learning and is contributing to the digital transformation of 
compames. 
While the information in the Petitioner's personal plan, the Investopedia article, and the 
aforementioned letters of support help show that his proposed robotics work has substantial merit, 4 
this information is insufficient to demonstrate the national importance of his particular proposed 
endeavor in the United States. The aforementioned documentation does not contain sufficient 
information and explanation, nor does the record include adequate corroborating evidence, to show 
3 The Petitioner has not established that his proposed endeavor stands to impact or significantly reduce the claimed labor 
shortages. Further, shortages of qualified workers are directly addressed by the U.S. Department of Labor through the 
labor certification process. 
4 "The endeavor's merit may be demonstrated in a range of areas such as business, entrepreneurialism, science, technology, 
culture, health, or education. Evidence that the endeavor has the potential to create a significant economic impact may be 
favorable but is not required, as an endeavor's merit may be established without immediate or quantifiable economic 
impact. For example, endeavors related to research, pure science, and the furtherance of human knowledge may qualify, 
whether or not the potential accomplishments in those fields are likely to translate into economic benefits for the United 
States." See Dhanasar, 26 I&N Dec. at 889. 
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that his specific undertaking offers broader implications in the field that rise to the level of national 
importance. 
In the decision denying the petition, the Director determined that the Petitioner had not established the 
national importance of his proposed endeavor. The Director indicated that the Petitioner had not 
provided supporting evidence documenting his "plans for work continuation in the U.S." or otherwise 
detailing how his endeavor would be undertaken in our country. Additionally, the Director stated that the 
Petitioner had not demonstrated that his "proposed endeavor has significant potential to employ U.S. 
workers or other substantial positive economic effects." 
In his appeal brief, the Petitioner argues that the Director's statements regarding "a need for U.S. contract 
'agreements' and/or 'evidence identifying any potential United States manufacturers or users of [the 
Petitioner's] products"' were in error as such documents are not required under prong one of the 
Dhanasar framework. 5 Despite some problematic language in the Director's decision, the record before 
him supported the determination that the Petitioner had not provided sufficient information and evidence 
regarding his "plans for work continuation in the U.S." to show his proposed endeavor's national 
importance. In Dhanasar, we held that a petitioner must identify "the specific endeavor that the foreign 
national proposes to undertake." Id. at 889. 
The Petitioner further asserts that his prior work has "led to 9 patents and 8 software copyrights" and "has 
brought great economic benefits to several companies, including! a home automation 
company in I He points to a letter from I I chief executive officer and co-founder 
of I stating: 
The business cooperation with [the Petitioner] and his team has been almost four years 
since the beginning of 2016. [The Petitioner] and his team have very solid and stable 
technical skills, and the products they provide have a very good quality guarantee. Thanks 
for [the Petitioner] and his team providing the core cloud service and hardware PCB for 
our products. The dedication of them is the cornerstone of the success of I 
products .... [W]e will have more close cooperation with [the Petitioner] and his team 
absolutely. 
The Petitioner's technical skills, patents, and copyrights; his experience in providing cloud services and 
hardware; and the interest of his customers relate to the second prong of the Dhanasar framework, which 
"shifts the focus from the proposed endeavor to the foreign national." Id. at 890. The issue here is 
whether the specific endeavor that he proposes to undertake has national importance under Dhanasar' s 
first prong. 
In determining national importance, the relevant question is not the importance of the field, industry, 
or profession in which the individual will work; instead, we focus on the "the specific endeavor that 
the foreign national proposes to undertake." See Dhanasar, 26 I&N Dec. at 889. In Dhanasar, we 
further noted that "we look for broader implications" of the proposed endeavor and that "[aa ]n 
undertaking may have national importance for example, because it has national or even global 
implications within a particular field." Id. We also stated that "[a]n endeavor that has significant 
5 Such evidence, including "the interest of potential customers, users, investors, or other relevant entities or individuals," is 
more relevant to the second prong of the Dhanasar framework. Id. at 890. 
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potential to employ U.S. workers or has other substantial positive economic effects, particularly in an 
economically depressed area, for instance , may well be understood to have national importance." Id. 
at 890. 
To evaluate whether the Petitioner's proposed endeavor satisfies the national importance requirement 
we look to evidence documenting the "potential prospective impact" of his work. While the 
Petitioner 's statements reflect his intention to produce consumer robots and provide commercial 
technology services for companies or manufacturers; to establish a U.S.-based intelligent remote-control 
cloud computing center that can reach robots across the world to provide data-acquisition analysis and 
intelligent remote-control services; to provide consulting service to local companies; to invest in and 
achieve more intelligent, environmentally friendly, and safer commercial robot products in the field of 
sanitation, cleaning, and maintenance; to develop an independent service robotics brand; and to hire U.S.­
based software engineer and sales teams to make the products meet and adapt to the local application 
scenarios, he has not offered sufficient information and evidence to demon strate that the prospective 
impact of his proposed endeavor rises to the level of national importance. In Dhanasar , we determined 
that the petitioner's teaching activities did not rise to the level of having national importance because 
they would not impact his field more broadly. Id. at 893. Here, we conclude the Petitioner has not 
shown that his propo sed endeavor stands to sufficiently extend beyond his future company and its 
customers to impact the robotic s industr y or the U.S. economy more broadly at a level commensurate 
with national importance . 
Furthermore , the Petitioner has not demonstrated that the specific endeavor he proposes to undertake 
has significant potential to employ U.S. workers or otherwise offers substantial positive economic 
effects for our nation . Without sufficient information or evidence regarding any projected U.S. economic 
impact or job creation attributable to his future work, the record does not show that benefits to the U.S. 
regional or national economy resulting from his projects would reach the level of "substantial positive 
economic effects" contemplated by Dhanasar. Id. at 890. Accordingly, the Petitioner' s proposed work 
does not meet the first prong of the Dhanasar framework. 
Because the documentation in the record does not establish the national importance of his proposed 
endeavor as required by the first prong of the Dhanasar precedent decision, the Petitioner has not 
demonstrated eligibility for a national interest waiver. Further analysis of his eligibility under the second 
and third prongs outlined in Dhanasar , therefore, would serve no meaningful purpose. 
III. CONCLUSION 
As the Petitioner has not met the requisite first prong of the Dhanasar analytical framework, we conclude 
that he has not established he is eligible for or otherwise merits a national interest waiver as a matter 
of discretion . The appeal will be dismissed for the above stated reasons , with each considered as an 
independent and alternate basis for the decision. 
ORDER: The appeal is dismissed. 
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