On May 6^th, 2016, we received another EB-2 NIW (National Interest Waiver) approval for a Software Engineer in the Field of Computer Science (Approval Notice).

General Field: Computer Science

Position at the Time of Case Filing: Software Engineer

Country of Origin: China

Service Center: Texas Service Center (TSC)

State of Residence at the Time of Filing: Texas

Approval Notice Date: May 6^th, 2016

Processing Time: 5 months, 18 days

Case Summary:

A gifted software engineer from China selected North America Immigration Law Group (WeGreened.com) to represent his EB-2 NIW (National Interest Waiver) petition. The USCIS spent 5 months and 18 days processing the case before granting their approval. So what exactly did we do to convince the USCIS that our client’s petition deserved to be approved? Out of the thousands of petitions that the USCIS received, what qualities did our client’s petition possess that made it one of the winning cases?

1. For one, we demonstrated that our client’s investigations on the application of machine learning and computer vision to research in video surveillance are important to the United States. Thanks to the thorough research summary that our client presented to us, we were able to deduct that his work directly contributes to the video surveillance, security, and automotive industries, as well as to research objectives in behavior analysis. Additionally, his research efforts in developing algorithms and methods for multi-group tracking are contributing to the United States’ security, transportation, and surveillance programs, while also bolstering the U.S. economy overall.
2. We listed our client’s 6 publications that had collected 48 citations when we filed the case. We also noted his doctoral degree and the 22 times he assessed the work of his peers for 5 well-known scientific journals.
3. To bolster our client’s EB-2 NIW petition, we asked him to enlist the help of other influential computer scientists. Six experts agreed to lend their support by signing recommendation letters. Here are a couple of excerpts:

“[Client] is a one-of-a-kind researcher with amazing capabilities in computer science and its subset fields.”

“… His research delivers a new means for tracking human intent and reasoning, in turn powering a high quality, robust video surveillance system. Bearing in mind the importance of this work, I strongly urge that the United States ensure that [Client’s] work is preserved in the U.S, as his work is key to improvements in the video surveillance.”

Becoming an American permanent resident:

Despite having an EB-2 NIW petition approval, our client cannot proceed with the final step of the green card process (filing an I-485 application) until his priority date is current. Unfortunately, this could take several years. Our client can wait for his priority date to become current or improve his credentials and file an EB-1 petition. Petitioners born in China with EB-1 petition approvals need not wait several years for their priority date to become current before adjusting their status for permanent residence. No matter which option our client selects, we will be honored to help him get a green card. Till then, we wish him well as he continues to advance the field of computer science.