Case Summary:

A National Interest Waiver or NIW is a kind of nonimmigrant visa granted to foreign individuals with work pointed to benefit the United States. So when we receive an NIW request, we collect evidence for the same. This is how the case of a Chinese research assistant in biomedical engineering unfolded. She was prusuing a Ph.D. in the field and she had been working tirelessly for 5 years in the area.

As an expert in the field, her proposed endeavor was to continue her design of optimal medical devices for the automatic detection of atrial fibrillation from cardiac arrhythmia. Her research was of evident importance because it addressed a gaping lack in medical technological development. Furthermore, her work helped provide important monitoring methods for people living with heart conditions, an increasing health concern among the world’s population.

Thus, her proposed endeavor also had broad implications for the United States. The medical benefits of her work had ramifications for heart conditions and diseases, which have been growing in the United States as the population continues to age. Heart disease is the leading cause of death for men and women without regard for racial or ethnic groups, killing one person every thirty-six seconds. It was hence due to the clear national importance of her research, that it has been supported with funding from the National Institutes of Health: National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. At the same time, she found supporting letters from 4 other experts, one of whom said the following:

“[The client’s] work supports the U.S. medical devices industry, as her research breakthroughs have provided state-of-the-art smartwatch technologies for the reliable detection of atrial fibrillation phenomena from smartphone-collected photoplethysmography data. Her high-tech devices represent a next-generation class of wearable smart health technologies, so it is clear that her work has contributed both medically and economically to the country.”

Additionally, she has completed at least 6 reviews. Her research has resulted in 5 peer-reviewed journal articles (1 of them first-authored) and 6 conference proceedings which have been cited 92 times according to Google Scholar. On the other hand, due to its clear implications for improving the independence and self-efficacy of people living with heart conditions, her research has already attracted the attention of the private sector.

These bits of information were woven together in the form of a solid petition for our client which helped her win the case without an RFE. Since we informed our client of the new feature USCIS has introduced for NIW cases, namely the premium processing, she updated her case to PP, shortening the approval time significantly. We are happy to have been of aid to her in this process and we wish her all the best in the future.