Case: I-130/I-485
Applicant/Beneficiary – Korean
Location: Auburn, AL

Our client entered the United States in June 2009 from South Korea under the visa waiver program. She came here with her parents when she was a minor. As a Visa Waiver Entrant, she was only authorized to remain in the United States only for 90 days.  Nonetheless, she has remained in the United States. 

In January 2021, our client and her U.S. citizen husband married. They contacted our office and they retained us.  One issue in her green card application through marriage was the fact that she came to the United States under the visa waiver program.   As our office wrote in our previous success story with a similar issue,  under the visa waiver program, citizens of certain countries can enter the U.S. for 90 days without a visa with the condition that the visitor waives his or her right to contest removal (other than on the basis of asylum).  The “no-contest” provision of the Visa Waiver Program is fundamental; if someone could enter under the VWP and then contest removability, it would defeat the whole purpose of the Program which is to make it easy for certain nationals to come to the United States to visit and then leave without all the red-tape involved in visa issuance.

Nevertheless, our office filed the I-130 Petition and I-485 Adjustment of Status Application on June 20, 2021. Everything went smoothly and the receipt notices, fingerprint appointment, and work permit all came on time. There was no Request for Evidence.  Prior to the interview, we thoroughly prepared our clients via conference call. On June 6, 2022, our client was interviewed at the Montgomery, Alabama USCIS Field Office.  Despite the visa waiver issue, the USCIS officer approved her green card application on the same day of the interview.  Now, our client is a green card holder. 

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CASE: N-400 (Citizenship / Naturalization)

APPLICANT: Korean

LOCATION: Cleveland, OH

Our client contacted us in September 2021 to seek legal representation for her naturalization application. She came to the United States from South Korea and obtained her green card in December 2018 through her marriage to a US citizen spouse. 

Her N-400 application was filed on September 28, 2021 with all supporting documents. Prior to her citizenship interview, our office prepared her via conference calls.  On March 4, 2022, our client appeared at the Cleveland, OH USCIS office for her naturalization interview. Our client answered all questions correctly and passed her naturalization interview. On March 21, 2022, her application was approved. Her oath taking is scheduled in which she will become a naturalized U.S. Citizen.

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CASE: I-485 / EB-2 I-140  
APPLICANT: Korean Dentist in Cleveland, OH

Our client is from South Korea, who is currently working in the United States as an associate dentist on H-1B status. Her current employer was willing to do an immigration petition for her, second-preference. Our client has a Doctor of Dental Medicine degree in the United States. Based on our client’s education and work background, our office determined that she is eligible for EB-2 classification. 

Prior to filing PERM, our firm prepared the prevailing wage request, job order, advertisements, internal job posting, recruitment report, and all other steps which are important pre-PERM filing. Take note that PERM could be filed at least 60 days from the job posting date or 30 days from the last ad. On December 6, 2019, the prevailing wage request was filed.  After we obtained the Prevailing Wage determination, our office filed the job order on March 30, 2020.  On June 4, 2020, we filed PERM.  On December 3, 2020, the PERM Labor Certification was approved – an EB2 position for the Korean beneficiary. 

We then proceeded with the I-140 Petition filing. We submitted the “ability to pay” letter for the I-140 petition application. We included the job offer letter, employer’s tax records, and other necessary supporting documents.

The I-140 Petition was filed on December 28, 2020 via regular processing service. We also filed her I-485 adjustment of status application simultaneously since her priority date was current. On April 9, 2021, our office filed a premium processing upgrade request to the USCIS upon our client’s request. On April 21, 2021, the I-140 EB2 Petition for our Korean client was approved without any Request for Evidence (RFE). On March 24, 2022, her I-485 adjustment of status application was approved without any Request for Evidence (RFE).

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CASE: I-140 / National Interest Waiver

CLIENT: Korean

LOCATION: Cleveland, OH

Our client contacted us about the possibility of doing a National Interest Waiver self-petition. He is a researcher from South Korea and he is an exceptional researcher and scientist in the field of Biomedical Engineering. 

Our client’s significant contributions have placed him at the pinnacle of his field. Our client’s research include advanced medical image processing, machine/deep learning techniques, and its medical applications. Throughout his research career, he has made important and innovative contributions to the field of biomedical engineering and his research successfully influenced various cardiovascular imaging modalities, such as echocardiogram, intravascular ultrasound (IVUS), and intravascular optical coherence tomogram (IVOCT). Because of his innovative research, our client’s works were highly evaluated by 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 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 26-page brief for our client’s NIW filing. Our client also obtained 7 letters of recommendation from his colleagues and internationally-recognized researchers. Our office also included his publication record, presentation record, 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 Nebraska Service Center on December 29, 2020. On March 3, 2022, the USCIS approved his I-140 petition without any Requests for Evidence.  When we filed his I-140, he concurrently filed his I-485 adjustment of status application. His adjustment of status application will be approved soon as well.

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CASE: I-485 / National Interest Waiver

CLIENT: Korean

LOCATION: San Francisco, CA

Our client contacted us about the possibility of doing a National Interest Waiver self-petition. He is a researcher from South Korea and he is an exceptional scientist in the field of Biomedical Engineering. 

Our client’s significant contributions have placed him at the pinnacle of his field. His field of research primarily concerns biomedical materials design and development, and its in-depth characteristics. He has been working lately on other subjects including bio-inspired materials design (so-called bio-mimetics).  Throughout his career, our client has made important contributions to the field of biomedical engineering and his research involves the study of structural biological materials (bone) and the development of bioinspired designs based on these structures (biodegradable metal / ceramic composite scaffold, 3D printing), which so far has resulted in scaffolds and composites that have diverse applications from bone implants to light weight aerospace structures. Because of his innovative research, our client’s publications were highly evaluated by 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 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 21-page brief for our client’s NIW filing. Our client also obtained 6 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 Nebraska Service Center on February 7, 2019. On November 26, 2019, the USCIS Nebraska Service Center issued a Request for Evidence (RFE) for our client and surprisingly argued that our client has not met all of three prongs of Dhanasar. Our client and our office prepared an extensive RFE response and filed it on February 18, 2020. 

Eventually, on March 25, 2020, the USCIS approved his I-140 petition. When we filed his I-140, he concurrently filed his I-485 adjustment of status application as well. On August 11, 2020, the USCIS approved our client’s I-485 adjustment of status application without an interview.

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CASE: I-485 based on Approved I-140 (EB-2)

APPLICANT: Korean

LOCATION: Ohio

Our client is an assistant professor from South Korea, who is currently teaching at a state university which was willing to petition her for a second-preference petition (I-140).  Our client has a Ph.D. degree and has worked for this school since 2015. She has maintained her status as an H-1B visa holder in the United States. She had an approved I-140 petition which was filed by her current employer and this I-140 petition’s priority date was July 12, 2016.

In August 2017, she contacted our office and retained us for her I-485 adjustment of status application. Our office filed an I-485 adjustment of status application for our client on October 6, 2017. Everything went smoothly and the receipt notices and fingerprint appointment came on time.

Prior to the interview, we thoroughly prepared our client via conference call as well. On June 11, 2018, our client was interviewed at Cleveland Ohio USCIS office. Attorney Sung Hee (Glen) Yu from our office also accompanied our client as well. Eventually, on June 12, 2018, her green card application was approved.

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CASE: I-485 Adjustment of Status / I-140 (EB-2)
CLIENT: Korean Associate Dentist

Our client is from South Korea, who is currently working in the United States as an associate dentist under H-1B status. Her current employer was willing to do an immigration petition for her, second-preference. Our client has a Doctor of Dental Medicine degree in the United States. After talking to our client, our firm concluded that her employer can petition her as an associate dentist. Based on our client’s education and work background, our office determined that she is clearly eligible for EB-2 classification.

Prior to filing PERM, our firm prepared the prevailing wage request, job order, advertisements, internal job posting, recruitment report, and all other steps which are important pre-PERM filing. Take note that PERM could be filed at least 60 days from the job posting date or 30 days from the last ad. On February 10, 2017, the prevailing wage request was filed.  After we obtained Prevailing Wage determination, our office filed the job order on May 16, 2017. On August 4, 2017, we promptly filed PERM. Eventually, on December 21, 2017, the PERM Labor Certification was approved – an EB2 position for the Korean beneficiary.

We then proceeded with the I-140 Petition filing. We submitted the “ability to pay” letter for the I-140 petition application. We included the job offer letter, employer’s tax records, and other necessary supporting documents. The I-140 Petition was filed on January 11, 2018 via premium processing service. Eventually, on January 22, 2018, the I-140 EB-2 Petition for our Korean client was approved without any Request for Evidence (RFE).

Once her I-140 petition was approved, she retained our office again and determined to file an adjustment of status application for her. On February 9, 2018, our office filed an I-485 adjustment of status application for our client. Everything went smoothly and the receipt notices and fingerprint appointment came on time.

Prior to the interview, we thoroughly prepared our client via conference call as well. On June 18, 2018, our client was interviewed at Cleveland Ohio USCIS office. Attorney JP Sarmiento from our office also accompanied our client as well. Eventually, on June 19, 2018, her green card application was approved.

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CASE: I-485 Adjustment of Status / I-140 (EB-2)
CLIENT: Korean Associate Dentist

Our client is from South Korea, who is currently working in the United States as an associate dentist under H-1B status. Her current employer was willing to do an immigration petition for her, second-preference. Our client has a Doctor of Dental Medicine degree in the United States. After talking to our client, our firm concluded that her employer can petition her as an associate dentist. Based on our client’s education and work background, our office determined that she is clearly eligible for EB-2 classification.

Prior to filing PERM, our firm prepared the prevailing wage request, job order, advertisements, internal job posting, recruitment report, and all other steps which are important pre-PERM filing. Take note that PERM could be filed at least 60 days from the job posting date or 30 days from the last ad. On February 10, 2017, the prevailing wage request was filed.  After we obtained Prevailing Wage determination, our office filed the job order on May 16, 2017. On August 4, 2017, we promptly filed PERM. Eventually, on December 21, 2017, the PERM Labor Certification was approved – an EB2 position for the Korean beneficiary.

We then proceeded with the I-140 Petition filing. We submitted the “ability to pay” letter for the I-140 petition application. We included the job offer letter, employer’s tax records, and other necessary supporting documents. The I-140 Petition was filed on January 11, 2018 via premium processing service. Eventually, on January 22, 2018, the I-140 EB-2 Petition for our Korean client was approved without any Request for Evidence (RFE).

Once her I-140 petition was approved, she retained our office again and determined to file an adjustment of status application for her. On February 9, 2018, our office filed an I-485 adjustment of status application for our client. Everything went smoothly and the receipt notices and fingerprint appointment came on time.

Prior to the interview, we thoroughly prepared our client via conference call as well. On June 18, 2018, our client was interviewed at Cleveland Ohio USCIS office. Attorney JP Sarmiento from our office also accompanied our client as well. Eventually, on June 19, 2018, her green card application was approved.

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CASE: I-485 Adjustment of Status Based on Approved I-140 (EB-1C Category: Executives and Managers of Multinational Organizations)

EMPLOYER: Multinational Tire Corporation

BENEFICIARY: Korean

LOCATION: Ohio

Our client is the vice president of a multinational tire corporation in Ohio.  He is from Korea, and has worked for its parent company for 12 years in positions of increasing responsibility including that of Research and Development team manager. He came to the United States in February 2013 with an E-2 visa to work for current petitioner company (wholly-owned subsidiary of his previous employer).  He contacted our firm in December 2013, and discussed us his chances of getting a green card.  Based on our client’s educational and professional background and his current position at the worksite, our office determined that he was clearly eligible for the EB-1C classification for his I-140 petition. Our client eventually retained us for his I-140 and subsequent I-485 adjustment of status application.

An employer can petition for its foreign employee under INA § 203(b)(1)(C) if it demonstrates the following: (C) Certain multinational executives and managers – An alien is described in this subparagraph if the alien, in the 3 years preceding the time of the alien’s application for classification and admission into the United States under this subparagraph, has been employed for at least 1 year by a firm or corporation or other legal entity or an affiliate or subsidiary thereof and the alien seeks to enter the United States in order to continue to render services to the same employer or to a subsidiary or affiliate thereof in a capacity that is managerial or executive.

According to the INA §101(a)(44), 8 U.S.C. §1101(a)(44) and 8 C.F.R §204.5(j)(2), “executive capacity” means an assignment in an organization in which the employee primarily: (1) Directs the management of the organization or a component or function; (2) Establishes goals and policies; (3) Exercise wide latitude in discretionary decision making; and (4) Receives only general supervision or direction from higher level executives, board of directors or stockholders.

Also, above the mentioned statutes define “managerial capacity” as an assignment with the organization in which the employee personally: (1) Manages the organization, department, subdivision, function or component; (2) Supervises and controls the work of other supervisory, professional or managerial employees, or manages an essential function within the organization or department or subdivision of the organization; (3) Has authority to hire and fire or recommend personnel actions (if another directly supervises employees), or if no direct supervision, functions at a senior level; and (4) Exercises discretion over day-to-day operations of the activity or function.

After our office was retained, we prepared a thorough cover letter and obtained all necessary supporting documents from our client and the petitioning company. In our brief, we clearly demonstrated that our client met the requirements set forth in the INA §203(b)(1)(C).  First, the prospective U.S. employer (Petitioner-Company) has been doing business for at least 1 year.  Second, the prospective employer (Petitioner) in the United States is the same employer or a subsidiary or affiliate of the firm or corporation or other legal entity by which the alien was employed abroad.  Third, if the worker is already employed in the United States, he or she was employed outside the United States for at least 1 year in the 3 years preceding admission as a non-immigrant in an executive or managerial capacity by the petitioner or by its parent branch, subsidiary, or affiliate. Last, the alien is to be employed in the United States in a managerial or executive capacity.

In this case, the Petitioner-company has been doing business for 23 years in the United States. In addition, Petitioner-Company is the wholly-owned subsidiary of its Korean parent company where our client was employed for 12 years. Moreover, our client was employed outside the U.S. for at least 1 year in the 3 years preceding admission as a non-immigrant in an Executive or Managerial Capacity by the Petitioner’s parent company in South Korea.  Our client served as a team manager and later became general manager for the parent company.  He personally supervised and controlled the work of other researchers and engineers for new types and models of tire developments, and was primarily responsible for the company’s various new tires.  Lastly, our client is to be employed in the United States as a vice president for the petitioner.

On the application package, we included a detailed job offer letter, employment verification letter from our client’s previous employer (parent company), an organization chart, and a dispatch order.  Also, we included evidence regarding the relationship between the Petitioner-Company and its Parent company in South Korea.  The evidence included a copy of the certificate of ownership, a copy of the articles of incorporation, a copy the business registration certificate, a copy of the approval for overseas investment, a copy of the annual report and consolidated financial statements.  The I-140 Petition was filed on September 8, 2014.  On March 5, 2015, the I-140 was approved with no Requests for Evidence.  

On November 28, 2016, our office filed an I-485 adjustment of status application for our client and his derivative family members. Everything went smoothly and the receipt notices and fingerprint appointment came on time.  On April 14, 2017, the USCIS Nebraska Service Center approved our client’s adjustment of status application.  On the same day, the CIS approved our client’s derivative family members’ adjustment of status applications as well.

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CASE: J-1 Waiver of Two-Year Foreign Residency Requirement, No Objection Statement

NATIONALITY: Korean

LOCATION: Blacksburg, VA

Our client is from South Korea who came to the U.S. on a J-1 Visa in 2001 to work as a term appointed, non-paid Guest Scientist. His J-1 program made him subject to the two-year foreign residence requirement. After his J-1 program was completed, he went back to South Korea and got his F-1 student visa. With his F-1 status, he finished his Ph.D. degree and started to work as a post-doctoral researcher. He retained our office to seek legal assistance for his I-140 (National Interest Waiver Classification) and I-485 Adjustment of Status applications. However, our client completely forgot about his J-1 status in the past and was not fulfilled the 2-year foreign residency requirement. Thus, before we file his I-485 application, he has to get a waiver for his two-year foreign residency requirement.

Once retained, our office promptly prepared and filed a waiver request through the No Objection Statement (NOS) from the Korean Embassy in the United States.

Attorney Sung Hee (Glen) Yu from our office contacted the Korean Consulate General Office in Chicago to pursue the waiver for our client.  The Consulate requested six different documents including a statement of reason for the waiver, the applicant’s resume, a J-1 visa waiver confirmation application, and a letter of reason for obtaining the J-1 waiver.  Most of those documents needed to be written in Korean, so Attorney Yu, a Korean himself, assisted our client in completing those documents.

On November 17, 2016, the J-1 Waiver (Form DS-3035) Application was filed to the Department of State.  We also sent a request to the Korean Embassy to issue a No Objection Statement and recommend this waiver based on the fact that our client is eligible to file a National Interest Waiver petition and adjustment of status application.

The Korean Consulate General in Chicago forwarded our client’s documents to the Korean Embassy in DC.  After that, the Korean Embassy issued a No Objection Statement for our client, and sent this letter to the State Department’s Waiver Review Division.  On February 15, 2017, the Waiver Review Division issued a favorable recommendation based on the No Objection statement. Eventually, on March 22, 2017, the USCIS issued I-612 approval notice and waived our client’s 2 year foreign residency requirement.

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