On March 6^th, 2017, we received another EB-2 NIW (National Interest Waiver) approval for a Senior Economic Analyst in the Field of Industrial Engineering (Approval Notice).

General Field: Industrial Engineering

Position at the Time of Case Filing: Senior Economic Analyst

Country of Origin: Iran

Service Center: Nebraska Service Center (NSC)

Approval Notice Date: March 6^th, 2017

Processing Time: 14 months

Case Summary:

Exactly 14 months after North America Immigration Law Group (WeGreened.com) filed an EB-2 NIW (National Interest Waiver) petition for an Iranian client based in Norway, the USCIS approved his petition. It usually takes them between 4-9 months to adjudicate I-140 petitions and the reason why they spent over a year on our client’s petition is because they issued a Request for Evidence (RFE). According to the USCIS website, an RFE is issued when “an application/petition is lacking required documentation/evidence (initial evidence) or the officer needs more documentation/evidence (additional evidence) to determine an applicant’s eligibility for the benefit sought. We may send you a request for evidence at any stage of our review. The request will indicate what evidence or information is needed for us to fully evaluate your application or petition. The notice will explain where to send the evidence and will give the deadline for your response.” As part of our services, we promptly put together a strong response to the RFE and submitted it to the USCIS before the deadline. Thanks to our diligent efforts, our client secured NIW petition not long after.

In preparing our client’s NIW petition, we chose to focus on details that proved he is one of only a handful of researchers who can obtain such impactful results in the field of industrial engineering. We detailed his 7 peer-reviewed journal articles (all of them first-authored) and 5 articles in conference proceedings as well as the 34 citations gathered from his work. Most importantly, we carefully accounted for his work on investment and decision analysis. Overall, we demonstrated that our client’s research results have directly contributed to better decision-making in the energy and financial services sectors in the United States. Additionally, we proved that his project selection research efforts are contributing to the United States’ energy efficiency and independence.

To support our case, we enlisted our client to obtain recommendation letters from his peers. He returned with five strong letters, one of which contained this statement: “Considering the benefits that [Client’s] research brings to portfolio cultivation and energy resource management, it is essential that he continues it. The United States is an excellent location for him to do so.”

Immigrant Visa Processing (IVP):

Now that our client has an approved NIW petition, he can undergo IVP—the final step in the green card process for applicants who live outside the US. Our client will have to pay the fees, submit the right paperwork, and attend an interview at the American embassy in his country of residence. Assuming everything goes according to plan, he will receive an immigrant visa which he will then use to enter the US as a permanent resident. We wish him well with this step and thank him for choosing us to work on his NIW petition. To learn more about IVP, please visit http://www.wegreened.com/Immigrant-Visa-Processing.