sustained EB-2 NIW Case: Chemical Engineering

U.S. Citizenship 
and Immigration 
Services 
MATTER OF R-T-I-
APPEAL OF TEXAS SERVICE CENTER DECISION 
Non-Precedent Decision of the 
Administrative Appeals Office 
DATE: MAR. 27, 2017 
PETITION: FORM I-140, IMMIGRANT PETITION FOR ALIEN WORKER 
The Petitioner, a nonprofit research organization, seeks to classifY the Beneficiary as a second 
preference member of the professions holding an advanced degree. and seeks 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). After a petitioner has established 
eligibility for EB-2 classification, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) may, as 
matter of discretion, 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 otTer and thus of a labor 
certification. Matter of Dhanasar. 26 I&N Dec. 884 (AAO 2016). 
The Director of the Texas Service Center denied the Form 1-140, Immigrant Petition for Alie11 Worker, 
finding that the Beneficiary qualified for classification as a member of the professions holding an 
advanced degree, but that the Petitioner had not established eligibility for a national interest waiver. 
On appeal, the Petitioner contends that the Beneficiary is eligible for a national interest \vaiver based 
on his work developing new processes for non-petroleum based biofuel production and carbon 
capture. In January 2017, we issued a request for evidence (RFE) asking the Petitioner to provide 
evidence satisfying the three-part framevv'ork set forth in Dhanasar. 
Upon de novo review·, we will sustain 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 o( 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 shmving is required 
to establish that a waiver of the job offer requirement is in the national interest. 
Matter of R-T-1-
Section 203(b) ofthe Act sets out this sequential framework: 
(2) Aliens who are members of the professions holding advanced degrees or aliens of 
exceptional ability. -
(A) Jn 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 otTer-
(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 recently 
set forth a new framework for adjudicating national interest waiver petitions. See Dhanasar. 26 I&N 
Dec. 884. 1 Dhanasar clarifies that, after EB-2 eligibility as an advanced degree professional or 
individual of exceptional ability has been established, users may grant a national interest waiver if 
the petitioner demonstrates by a preponderance of the evidence: (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. If these 
three elements are satisfied, users may approve the national interest waiver as a matter of 
discretion. 
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 
1 
In announcing this new framework, we vacated our prior precedent decision in Malter ojNew York State Department of 
Transportation, 22 I&N Dec. 215 (Act. Assoc. Comm'r 1998) (NYSDOT). 
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Matter of R-T-1-
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 tor the 
foreign national to secure a job offer or tor 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) 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 Beneficiary received a Ph.D. in chemical 
engineering from the He intends 
to continue his work as a lead research chemical engineer and project manager with the 
of the Petitioner, a non-profit 
research organization. The Director found that the Beneficiary qualified as a member of the 
professions holding an advanced degree, but that the record did not establish his eligibility tor a national 
interest waiver. On appeal and in response to our RFE, the Petitioner contends that the Beneficiary is 
eligible for a waiver because he is "exceptionally well qualified and positioned to effect [the 
Petitioner's] programs to develop and implement new technologies in the fields of bio-energy 
production and carbon capture." 
A. Substantial Merit and National Importance of the Proposed Endeavor 
The Petitioner has indicated that the Beneficiary conducts research into developing "clean energy 
alternative energy technologies and sources." It states that the Beneficiary's work aims to develop clean 
energy solutions that "improve the economic health of the United States on a national level through cost 
savings to power producers, allowing for environmentally responsible use of the U.S.'s abundant coal 
resources and existing fossil-fuel based infrastructure, and by dramatically reducing emissions of 
harmful greenhouse gasses." The Petitioner provided letters from colleagues and professors, including 
representatives of the discussing the imp01tance of the 
Beneficiary's proposed work developing ~leaner, more efficient energy sources to meet growing 
demands in a "carbon-constrained world." We find that this proposed research has substantial merit 
because it aims to advance scientific knowledge and further economic and environmental interests. 
2 See Dhanasar, at 889-91 for further elaboration on these three prongs. 
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Matter of R-T-1-
The record also demonstrates that the Beneficiary's proposed work, continuing to research and 
develop new technologies in the fields of bio-energy production and carbon capture, is of national 
importance. The Petitioner provides information published by the explaining that one of the ways 
to "substantially enhance the energy security of the United States" is by "developing technologies that 
have the potential of converting domestic biomass resources into transportation fuels (biofuels)." The 
reports confirm that this production ,has the potential to replace billions of barrels of oil and tons 
of coal in an effort to reduce nearly 700 million tons of carbon dioxide from the air. Several letters also 
speak to the national security interest in the United States becoming energy independent. For e):<ample, 
Assistant Program Director tor the 
notes that the Beneficiary's proposed endeavor "has the potential of significantly reducing 
the cost of domestic biofuels, enabling a cost-competitive alternative to petroleum-based fuels" and 
"will help reduce and stabilize gas prices for consumers." The national importance of the Beneficiary's 
biofuels research is further supported by the fact that several of biofuels projects, in which the 
Beneficiary has served as lead research engineer, have received funding from the. 
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B. Well Positioned to Advance the Proposed Endeavor 
The second prong shifts the focus from the proposed endeavor to the Beneficiary's qualifications. 
The record includes a copy of the Beneficiary's resume and educational credentials, documentation 
of his published and presented work, evidence of his peer review activities, and reference letters 
discussing his work in the tield. As discussed belO\:v, we find that the Beneficiary's notable experience 
leading high-profile projects in the area of clean energy that have received consistent funding from 
federal agencies, renders him well positioned to advance his proposed endeavor.· 
The record includes letters from the Beneficiary ' s colleagues and independent professionals attesting 
to the importance of his accomplishments. The Petitioner explained that one of the Beneficiary's 
important contributions to the field of clean energy and biofuels was his leadership in refining 
senior vice president, 
explained that this technology is used to remove contaminants such as sulphur and 
heavy metals from generated during coal gasification. He explains that the Petitioner was 
recently selected by to conduct a precori1mercial demonstration of the 
process technology coupled with carbon capture at 
m Florida. states that this project received 
more than $180 million dollars in funding and that, due to his vast expertise in refining the 
the Beneficiary served as the lead research engineer on this project. He 
. was critical to the "operation, optimization, and technical validation of 
3 These projects include a $6 million cooperative project with to develop an integrated forward osmosis 
and membrane distillation technology; a $7 million project to modify the scale-up of and 
carbon dioxide capture technologies; and a $168 million initiative to mitigate the technical risks associated with the 
scale-up of and carbon dioxide capture technologies. The I alter project was funded through 
the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act as a flagship national technology project to demonstrate 
contaminant removal and carbon capture and sequestration towards a vision of developing a zero-emission coal plant. 
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Matter of R-T-1-
technology." confirms that the Beneficiary's contributions enabled operational 
reliability factor to improve from 50% to over 85%. The record also includes documentation that the 
Beneficiary is "leading the development of a multi-physics based reactor model" that is being 
validated using "hydrodynamic data he is generating using a unique cold flow unit he has installed 
and is operating" at the facility. affirms that this model is poised to further aid 
validation of the performance data collected at 
· The record also includes documentation that the Beneficiary has played a critical role in 
conceptualizing and producing a fluidized bed reactor process for catalytic biomass pyrolysis. 
leading to a patent and a grant from Catalytic biomass pyrolysis is a process for 
converting biomass (the energy from plants and plant-derived materials) into fungible fuels such as 
ethanol. As explained by president of a management and 
technical consultancy, the Beneficiary expanded on his initial process concept to "lead the design, 
fabrication, installation , commissioning
, and testing of a unique biomass pyrolysis pilot-unit capable 
of processing one ton of biomass per day." confirms that the Beneficiary ' s pilot unit is 
operational and poised to lead to "an economically viable process for production ofbiofuels. " 
Similarly, a professor at attests that the 
Beneficiary was able to successfully develop a catalyst formulation that was effective in reforming 
heavy fuels, primarily jet fuel, and produce hydrogen to power fuel cells to generate electricity. 
explains that the Beneficiary "was able to successfully transform the project by developing 
a sulfur-tolerant, deactivation-resistant, catalyst that was utilized in a bench-scale unit to reform 
actual jet fuel to produce electricity using a solid oxide fuel cell." 
founder and president of described how this technology was utilized by his company 
to develop a catalyst formulation that was effective in refmming heavy fuel surrogates , and that his 
company used the Beneficiary's prototype to patent its flexible fuel reformer to produce hydrogen 
using jet fuel in a bench scale unit. notes that the Beneficiary's work is "critical" 
to "strengthening the United States' energy economy, while keeping the environment clean." 
The Petitioner has also submitted evidence that the Beneficiary's work has led to commercial 
contracts between and its partners. vice president of engineering at 
states that the Beneficiary, through is the manager of a commercial demonstration of 
gasification technology in partnership with the explains that the 
Beneficiary ' s "expertise in and conditioning , C02 removal , utilization , and 
overall process engineering and integration have been highly valuable for both its technical 
feasibility and cost to He states that the Beneficiary and his team have "proposed and 
implemented commercially-relevant and cost-effective process solutions" and that they hope to 
"license" and "rapidly deploy" this technology through their "waste-to-fuels gasification technology 
platform to numerous United States federal and local government entities , as well as to a number of 
private project developers in North America and around the world." 
In support of his appeal, the Beneficiary submits additional letters along with a chart of projects 
in which he has played a leading role and the amount of funding for each project. He also 
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Matter (?f R-T-1-
submits copies of funding grants from the press releases confirming collaboration agreements 
between and commercial partners to continue developing the Beneficiary" s work, and 
invitations to conduct 
peer-review and professional speaking engagements. 
The significance of the Beneficiary's past work is corroborated by evidence that it has found 
practical application in industry settings. ln addition, as described above, the record reflects 
sustained government and industry interest in his past and ongoing research. We find this 
documentation sufficient to demonstrate that the Beneficiary is well positioned to advance the 
proposed endeavor. 
C. Balancing Factors to Determine Waiver's Benefit to the United States. 
Third and finally, we conclude 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 labor certification process is 
designed to certify that the foreign worker will not displace nor adversely affect the wages and 
working conditions of U.S. workers who are similarly employed. Job requirements must adhere to 
what is customarily required for the occupation in the United States and may not be tailored to the 
foreign worker's qualifications or unduly restrictive, unless adequately documented as arising from 
business necessity. 
As noted above, the Beneficiary holds a Ph.D. in chemical engineering, along with considerable 
experience and expertise in his field. He has established a proven record of innovation and leadership 
developing and improving cutting-edge clean energy technology processes , and the Petitioner has 
documented his past success advancing high-profile projects such as spearheading multi-million dollar 
projects that develop unique and innovative clean energy solutions. His experience developing and 
improving clean energy and biofuels processes , his record of proven innovation, and his ability to 
use creative thinking to solve technical and multifaceted problems in the energy sector could not be 
easily articulated on an application for labor cettitication because such requirements are not 
customarily 
required for the occupation of a chemical engineer. 
Furthermore, numerous expe1ts in the field testified to their use of the Beneficiary's work to advance 
their proprietary clean energy technologies, extending the benefits of his work beyond any one 
employer. Because of his demonstrated history of managing large-scale engineering projects and 
developing state of the art clean energy initiatives, we find the Beneficiary offers contributions of 
such value that the United States will benefit from his work even assuming that other qualified U.S. 
workers were available. 
III. CONCLUSION 
The Beneficiary has met the requisite three prongs set forth in the Dhanasar analytical framework. We 
find that he has established eligibility for and otherwise merits a national interest waiver as a matter 
of discretion. 
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Matter qf R-T-1-
ORDER: The appeal is sustained. 
Cite as Matter of R-T-1- ID# 77341 (AAO Mar. 27, 2017) 
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