What is meant by “national in scope” in NYSDOT?
This just means that the benefits of your research or other work extends beyond simply the location where you are working. As far as we can tell, that criterion was put into the decision primarily to prevent medical doctors working in medically underserved areas from applying for national interest waivers. (After NYSDOT, Congress passed a special national interest waiver provision just for these doctors anyway, which overrides this part of the NYSDOT decision.) It is also used to deny cases of many cases, such as teachers, cooks, and others whom the CIS believes are doing work that (although it is important) is “purely local.” As noted in one of our published articles on national interest waivers, it is generally quite easy to meet this “national in scope” test and is not something we generally worry about. It is, however, a common source of confusion at the CIS, which frequently misinterprets it to mean “national impact,” which is something completely different.
