On April 11^th, 2016, we received another EB-2 NIW (National Interest Waiver) approval for a Postdoctoral Research Assistant in the Field of High Energy Physics (Approval Notice).

General Field: High Energy Physics

Position at the Time of Case Filing: Postdoctoral Research Assistant

Country of Origin: South Korea

Service Center: Texas Service Center (TSC)

State of Residence at the Time of Filing: Texas

Approval Notice Date: April 11^th, 2016

Processing Time: 1 month, 13 days

Case Summary:

With a doctorate in experimental high energy physics and years of experience researching the Standard Model Higgs boson particle search, our client possessed excellent credentials and was a fitting candidate for EB-2 NIW (National Interest Waiver). Although she had impressive qualifications, she needed North America Immigration Law Group’s help to put together a convincing EB-2 NIW petition. She was aware of our excellent services and stellar approval rates, and knew that we would do a good job. As promised, we did not let her down. Here are some of the things we included in her well-prepared EB-2 NIW petition dossier:

1. In order to qualify for the national interest waiver, petitioners must prove that their research has garnered recognition by others in the field. In this case, our client’s 11 journal articles had gathered a staggering 1,766 citations. Using these figures and other relevant evidence, we convinced the USCIS that our client is an irreplaceable presence in the field.
2. We also had to prove that our client is employed in an area of substantial intrinsic merit. We explained that she is a postdoctoral research assistant who is developing (and will continue to develop) new technologies whose very discovery depends on the influx of new, state-of-the-art research in high energy particle physics. We demonstrated that her work is valuable to the U.S. as it provides fundamental knowledge needed for technological advancement.
3. Our many years of experience putting together strong EB-2 NIW cases for our clients taught us never to underestimate the importance of third-party support. Thus, we urged our client to contact a handful of expert physicists to request for recommendation letters. Four experts agreed to attest to the value of our client’s work to the U.S., all of whom made statements such as these: “…halting [Client’s] work would have severely adverse effects on the productivity of the research community as well as those industries which rely on new information in particle physics for their growth.”

Although it took several months to have our client’s comprehensive EB-2 NIW petition packet ready for submission, the USCIS only spent 1 month and 13 days reviewing it before granting their approval. As they usually take between 4-9 months to adjudicate I-140 petitions, we are glad that our client was treated to such rapid adjudication. We are currently helping her prepare I-485 applications for herself and her dependent, and we look forward to helping them attain permanent residency.