CASE: I-140 / National Interest Waiver
CLIENT: Pakistani
LOCATION: Boston, MA
Our client contacted us in May 2017 about the possibility of doing a National Interest Waiver self-petition. He is a researcher from Pakistan and he is an exceptional researcher and scientist in the field of microbiology and medical science.
Our client’s significant contributions have placed him at the pinnacle of his field. He is an extraordinary researcher and scientist in the field of Microbiology and Medical Sciences. Throughout his research career, our client has been an outstanding scientist whose work is of critical importance in the prevention of certain human infections. Acanthamoeba is a dangerous pathogen and a causative agent of serious human infections. The most distressing fact is it forms a resistant double walled cyst inside human tissues and poses a key challenge in the successful treatment of the infection. To date, very little is known about the biology of encystation, however our client has thoroughly studied the process in the past few years. He has efficiently developed a liquid medium method to study encystation and using this method for the first time he identified the role of two key enzymes cellulose synthase and xylose isomerase during encystation using gene silencing technology. Because of his innovative experimental research, our client’s research works were highly evaluated by the reviewers of various journals and by colleagues and experts in the field.
Upon review of his credentials and qualifications, our office determined that he was definitely qualified for the National Interest Waiver (NIW) category. Being qualified for NIW is beneficial since you would not need an employer nor family member to petition for you for green card purposes. You’d be eligible for a self-petition and unless you are from China or India, in which case 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. While we prepared his case, the AAO set the new standards for NIW cases in Matter of Dhanasar, 26 I&N Dec. 884 (AAO 2016). Under the new standard, the petitioner must demonstrate that the foreign national’s proposed endeavor has both substantial merit and national importance. Next, it must be shown that he or she is well positioned to advance the proposed endeavor. Finally, the petitioner seeking the waiver needs to demonstrate that, on balance, it would be beneficial to the United States to waive the job offer and labor certification requirements. Id.
Our office prepared a 17-page brief for our client’s NIW filing. Our client also obtained 9 letters of recommendation from his colleagues and internationally-recognized researchers. Our office also included his publication records, presentation records, and conference materials in the NIW application. We demonstrated that our client is one of the few elite researchers who have made significant and substantial contributions to his field of endeavor, that he is well positioned to advance the proposed endeavor, and it would be beneficial to the United States to waive the requirements of a job offer and thus of a labor certification for our client.
Our office filed his I-140(NIW) petition to the USCIS Texas Service Center on October 19, 2017. Eventually, on February 12, 2018, the USCIS approved his I-140 petition without any Requests for Evidence. Now, he can file his I-485 adjustment of status application along with his approved I-140 petition.