sustained EB-2 NIW Case: Geography And Geographic Information Science

U.S. Citizenship 
and Immigration 
Services 
MATTER OF H-N-N-B-
APPEAL OF TEXAS SERVICE CENTER DECISION 
Non-Precedent Decision of the 
Administrative Appeals Office 
DATE: SEPT. 10, 2015 
PETITION: FORM I-140, IMMIGRANT PETITION FOR ALIEN WORKER 
The Petitioner, an individual, seeks classification as a member of the professions holding an 
advanced degree. See Immigration and Nationality Act (the Act) § 203(b )(2), 8 U.S.C. § 1153(b )(2). 
The Director, Texas Service Center, denied the immigrant visa petition. The matter is now before us 
on appeal. The appeal will be sustained. 
The Petitioner seeks employment as an Assistant Professor of Geography and Geographic 
Information Science researcher. 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 submits a brief and additional evidence. 
I. LAW 
Section 203(b) of the Act states, in pertinent part: 
(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 
Matter of H-N-N-B-
services in the sciences, arts, professions, or business be sought by an employer 
in the United States. 
II. ISSUES 
The record reflects 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." Matter of New York State Dep 't ofTransp. (NYSDOT), 
22 I&N Dec. 215, 217-18 (Act. Assoc. Comm'r 1998), set forth several factors which must be 
considered when evaluating a request for a national interest waiver. First, a petitioner must establish 
that he seeks employment in an area of substantial intrinsic merit. !d. at 217. Next, a petitioner must 
demonstrate that the proposed benefit will be national in scope. !d. Finally, the petitioner seeking the 
waiver must show that he will serve the national interest to a substantially greater degree than would an 
available U.S. worker having the same minimum qualifications. Jd. at 217-18. 
The Petitioner has established that his work as an Assistant Professor of Geography and Geographic 
Information Science researcher is in an area of substantial intrinsic merit. In addition, the Petitioner 
has demonstrated that the proposed benefits of his research concerning applications for remote 
sensing and geographic information systems (GIS) for land and water resource management 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. 
Although the national interest waiver hinges on prospective national benefit, the petitioner must 
establish his past record justifies projections of future benefit to the national interest. !d. at 219. The 
petitioner's subjective assurance that he 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 petitioner, rather than to facilitate the entry of an individual with no 
demonstrable prior achievements, and whose benefit to the national interest would thus be entirely 
speculative. !d. 
Furthermore, eligibility for the waiver must rest with the petitioner's own qualifications rather than 
with the position sought. Assertions regarding the overall importance of a petitioner's area of 
expertise cannot suffice to establish eligibility for a national interest waiver. !d. at 220. At issue is 
whether this petitioner's contributions in the field are of such significance that he merits the special 
benefit of a national interest waiver, a benefit separate and distinct from the visa classification he 
seeks. A petitioner must demonstrate a past history of achievement with some degree of influence 
on the field as a whole. !d. at 219, n. 6. In evaluating the petitioner's achievements, 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. /d. at 221, n. 7. 
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(b)(6)
Matter of H-N-N-B-
III. FACTS AND ANALYSIS 
The Petitioner filed the Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker (Form I-140) on March 3, 2014. The 
Director determined that the Petitioner's impact and influence on his field did not satisfy the third prong 
of the NYSDOT national interest analysis. Regarding his planned research activities, the Petitioner 
stated: "I intend to continue my investigations on how we could improve the methods used to 
characterize land cover[,] land use[,] and water resources by integrating geospatial techniques with 
landscape spatial complexity metrics and machine learning algorithms." 
The Petitioner submits evidence that he remains employed by of 
where he will continue his research concerning applications 
for remote sensing and GIS for land and water resource management. The record includes copies of 
multiple journal articles that the Petitioner has written or co-written, and evidence demonstrating that 
his published work has been extensively cited. In addition, the Petitioner provided various reference 
letters discussing his work in the field. 
Visiting Professor of Biology, Center for Science and Computation, 
stated: 
Innovative approaches, such as [the Petitioner's] use of machine learning classification tree 
algorithms and GIS techniques to determine optimal lake classes is very critical to 
developing appropriate reference conditions needed to develop water quality standards in 
order to alleviate the cost of lake and reservoir pollution in the United States. . . . [The 
Petitioner's] database became the foundation for a comprehensive Nebraska lakes database 
that other scientists, like me, as well as water analysts have used for management and 
research purposes. 
In addition, Professor, Department of Geography, 
discussed the Petitioner's article, entitled 
· which describes "a novel machine learning and GIS 
technique to classify Nebraska lakes." asserted that the aforementioned article "is listed 
as one of the most prominent papers on the topic of GIS in the 
In support of assertion, the Petitioner submitted a 
webpage printed from the 
Petitioner's article among "the most prominent 
internet site listing the 
papers on the topic of GIS" since 1993. 
University Distinguished Professor of Biology, 
explained: 
[The Petitioner] developed a cutting edge classification technique that employs GIS and [a] 
machine learning algorithm to group lakes based on their hydrogeological and ecological 
factors which is an essential step in developing scientifically defensible water quality 
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(b)(6)
Matter of H-N-N-B-
standards to limit nutrient enrichment and subsequent eutrophication m lake[s] and 
reservOirs. 
Water Quality Scientist, 
asserted that the Petitioner "has made significant contributions to the field of GIS­
based classification of lakes and reservoirs as a basis for states to establish water quality nutrient 
criteria as part of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) mandate under the Clean Water 
Act." 
Professor of Geography and Geographic Information Science, 
mentioned that the Petitioner "contribut~d to research on the 
observation satellite program operated by the USGS [United States Geological Survey]." 
further stated: "[The Petitioner] investigated effects of calibrations and corrections on 
spatial metrics that are used to characterize landscape structure and spatial pattern. The results of 
this research appeared in a paper ... that has been cited more than 65 times since it was published. " 
The record includes a Google Scholar citation index from 2015 reflecting that the aforementioned 
paper 
has been cited to 131 times by others in the field. 
Assistant Professor, Department of Geology, 
that the Petitioner published a paper entitled " 
stated 
further 
explained: "This paper addresses one of the issues that have been dogging the glacier assessment 
community for years, i.e. the need for accurate and consistent means to delineate and access glacier 
surface features." In addition, asserted that the Petitioner's "semi-automatic glacier 
lake classification method" has garnered "significant interest" from others in the field. Furthermore , 
Emeritus Professor of Geography, commented 
that the Petitioner 's work provides "a methodology for timely monitoring of melt water and glacier 
lakes from retreating glaciers, which has critical implications worldwide ." 
The aforementioned letters of support and extensive citation of the Petitioner 's work by others in the 
field are sufficient to demonstrate that the Petitioner's research has had a degree of influence on the 
field of geographic information science. The evidence in the record establishes the significance of this 
Petitioner's research, as opposed to the general area of research, and identifies specific benefits 
attributable to his work that have influenced the field as a whole. We therefore find that the 
Petitioner's past record of achievement justifies projection that he will serve the national interest to a 
significantly greater degree than would an available U.S. worker having the same minimum 
qualifications. 
IV. CONCLUSION 
As discussed above, the evidence in the record demonstrates that the benefit of retaining this petitioner's 
services outweighs the national interest that is inherent in the labor certification process. Therefore, on 
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Matter of H-N-N-B-
the basis of the evidence submitted, the Petitioner has established that a waiver of the requirement of a 
job offer, and thus of a labor certification, will be in the national interest of the United States. 
In visa petition 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; Matter of Otiende, 26 I&N Dec. 127, 128 
(BIA 2013). Here, that burden has been met. 
ORDER: The appeal is sustained. 
Cite as Matter o.fH-N-N-B-, ID# 14524 (AAO Sept. 10, 2015)