Case Summary:

“[The client’s] studies have conclusively proven the effectiveness of sand play therapy in reducing aggression in children. She has shown that children who are allowed to express their negative emotions in harmless activities such as sand play therapy exhibit dramatically less aggressive behavior than those who are not exposed to sand play therapy. In her work on this subject, [the client] has presented an effective preventative solution for aggressive behavior in children.”

“I reassert my utmost support for the ongoing research of [the client]. She has found that play therapy reduces stress and anxiety in children by large margins as compared to those who are not given play therapy. As a practitioner of play therapy herself, her work has contributed greatly to an improvement of the mental health of South Korean children, and the continuation of her work in the United States brings these same benefits to the children of the United States.”

These testimonials are proof that the work of our National Interest Waiver client from South Korea is of immense value and interest to the U.S. and the scientific community. Working as CEO in the area of psychotherapy, our client was an exemplary researcher whose case file contained the following information:

• As an expert in the field of child psychotherapy, her proposed endeavor is to use her clinical and research experience to integrate advanced brain research techniques with play therapy in order to improve therapeutic treatments for children with maladaptive social behavior.
• Her research advancing her proposed endeavor is of great importance because it addresses significant challenges facing children, and their parents, all over the world. Specifically, she has spent her career researching stress and the effect it has on children, a topic that has become more prevalent since the start of the global COVID-19 pandemic.
• Her proposed endeavor also has broad implications for the United States where according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 9.4% of children were diagnosed with anxiety and 8.9% had behavioral problems in 2016-2019.
• She has also completed at least three reviews to date and her research has resulted in 6 peer-reviewed journal articles (4 of them first-authored) and one book.
• These publications have been cited a total of 33 times according to Google Scholar, thereby demonstrating that these publications are widely recognized and relied upon in the field of child psychotherapy.
• Additionally, she has pursued research directly related to her proposed endeavor of utilizing her clinical and research experience to integrate advanced brain research techniques with play therapy in order to improve therapeutic treatments for children with maladaptive social behavior for 7 years.

All of these factors were woven together by our experts into an extraordinary petition and submitted for adjudication at the USCIS. While waiting for the approval, we did not know that her case would get approved in just 3 months and 2 days from the date of application. We are glad that we could help her get the approval without an RFE. Our team wishes her the best of luck for the future.