Case Summary:

“Foreign language studies are especially important in the United States and the rest of the world now. Learning a second language creates less prejudice and more positive attitudes. Being able to speak more than one language also makes Americans more hirable, earns them more money, and improves analytical skills. Inadequate methods and unreliable tools are to blame for the lack of language skills in the United States. [The client’s] research on second language learning is imperative if these statistics are to improve.”

“In the United States, speaking a foreign language increased salaries by 1.5-3.8%. In India, workers who speak English earned an average of 34% more. Second-language learners rarely have pronunciation training, which causes misconceptions and misunderstandings when they communicate with others. In order to improve, as well as to increase multilingualism around the world, linguists, including [the client], need to continue to develop new methods.”

These statements were made by experts in applied linguistics and related fields for a lecturer in the field. The statements praise the work of our client, the lecturer, for its ability to aid the U.S. population and the world in becoming adept at multilingualism leading to various benefits such as increased salary expectations, etc. So when she came to our firm seeking help with her NIW (National Interest Waiver) case, we were certain that her case had merit and that it would win the approval from the USCIS. So we began by countersigning the retainer with her and then collecting data on her academic and professional achievements. This search yielded the following facts:

• As an expert in the field of applied linguistics, her proposed endeavor is to work on the development of language learning software through second language speech research and computer-assisted language learning in order to improve language learning tools for users and teachers.
• Her work also has broad implications for the United States since over the last few decades, the number of English language learners (ELLs) has increased in the United States, especially among public school students.
• Thus, due to its clear national importance, her research has in fact been supported with funding from awards from the National Science Foundation and the National Federation of Modern Language Teachers Associations.
• Academically too, she has completed at least 6 reviews to date and her research has resulted in 3 peer-reviewed journal articles (1 of them first-authored) and 3 conference papers.
• Not only this but her work has also gone on to influence her peers. That is, her publications have been cited a total of 140 times according to Google Scholar.

Thus, we figured that since she has pursued research directly related to her proposed endeavor of developing language-learning software for 6 years her work in the area has gained more weight. This indeed helped our client in winning her NIW approval without an RFE. We are proud of having had the opportunity to work with her and we wish her all the best in her future endeavors.