CASE: I-140 / National Interest Waiver
CLIENT: Korean
LOCATION: Cleveland, OH
Our client contacted us in March 2011 about the possibility of doing a National Interest Waiver. He is a researcher and scientist in the field of Macromolecular Science and Engineering, a professor in Korea, and is currently working as a visiting professor in an academic institution in Cleveland, Ohio. Upon review of his credentials and qualifications, our office determined that he was qualified for the National Interest Waiver (NIW) category. Being qualified for NIW is beneficial since one would not need an employer nor family member to petition for them for green card purposes. You’d be eligible for a self-petition and unless you are from China or India, in which you’d still have to wait for priority dates to be current, you would be eligible to apply for adjustment of status (green card) immediately without any lag in priority dates.
As a primer, NIW applicants must have a master’s or higher degree. The landmark immigration case that discusses the standards for NIWs is Matter of New York State Department of Transportation , 22 I&N Dec. 215 (Comm.1998). This case held that the qualifying applicant must show the following elements in his or her I-140 NIW petition: First, it must be shown that the alien seeks employment in an area of substantial intrinsic merit. Next, it must be shown that the proposed benefit will be national in scope. Finally, the petitioner seeking the waiver must establish that the alien will serve the national interest to a substantially greater degree than would an available U. S. worker having the same minimum qualifications.
Our office prepared a 15-page brief for our client’s NIW filing. We asked our client to obtain 10 or more letters of recommendation. Our office also included his publication records, patents, and conference materials in the NIW application. We demonstrated the intrinsic merit of our client’s research in the United States, the national scope of his research, and asserted that our client would serve the national interest to a substantially greater degree than would an available U.S. worker having the same minimum qualifications. His NIW application contained 67 exhibits (Exhibit A to OOO).
Our office filed his I-140(NIW) petition to the USCIS Texas Service Center on May 2, 2011. On August 19, 2011, the USCIS approved his I-140 petition without any Requests for Evidence.
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