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

Our client is from Syria, who is currently working in the United States as an associate dentist under Temporary Protected Status (TPS). His current employer was willing to do an immigration petition for him, second-preference. Our client has a Doctor of Dentistry degree in Syria which is evaluated as an equivalent degree of Doctor of Dental Surgery degree the United States. He also has a license to practice dentistry in the state of Ohio. After talking to our client, our firm concluded that his employer can petition him as an associate dentist. Based on our client’s educational, professional and work background, our office determined that he 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 August 29, 2016, the prevailing wage request was filed.  After we obtained Prevailing Wage determination, our office filed the job order on December 22, 2016. On March 3, 2017, we promptly filed PERM. Eventually, on May 24, 2017, the PERM Labor Certification was approved – an EB2 position for the Syrian 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 June 16, 2017 via premium processing service. Eventually, on June 28, 2016, the I-140 EB-2 Petition for our Syrian client was approved without any Request for Evidence (RFE).

Once his I-140 petition was approved, he retained our office again and determined to file an adjustment of status application for him. On July 20, 2017, 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 at our office as well. On April 26, 2018, our client was interviewed at Cleveland Ohio USCIS office. Attorney JP Sarmiento from our office also accompanied our client as well. Eventually, on May 11, 2018, his green card application was approved.

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CASE: I-140 / National Interest Waiver

CLIENT: Mexican

LOCATION: Raleigh, NC

Our client contacted us in April 2016 about the possibility of doing a National Interest Waiver self-petition. He is a researcher from Mexico and he is an exceptional researcher and scientist in the field of plant developmental biology research.

Our client’s significant contributions have placed him at the pinnacle of his field. His research has contributed to the advancing of our understanding of the mechanisms that control plant growth and development, and how plants respond to geminivirus infection, thus enabling the development of new plant breeding technologies for food production improvement.  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 20-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 Texas Service Center on December 20, 2017. Eventually, on April 13, 2018, the USCIS approved his I-140 petition without any Requests for Evidence.  Now, he can file his adjustment of status application.

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CASE: I-140 (EB-2)    
EMPLOYER:  Civil Engineering Company in California
BENEFICIARY: Filipino Building Project Engineer Manager

Our client is from the Philippines. His prospective employer was willing to do an immigration petition for him, second-preference. Our client has a Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering and has more than 5 years of work experience as a Design and Structural Engineer. After talking to our client, our firm concluded that his employer can petition him as a Building Project Engineer Manager. Based on our client’s education and work background, our office determined that he 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 January 30, 2017, the prevailing wage request was filed.  After we obtained Prevailing Wage determination, our office filed the job order on April 26, 2017. On September 18, 2017, we promptly filed PERM. Eventually, on March 8, 2018, the PERM Labor Certification was approved – an EB2 position for the Filipino 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 April 13, 2018 via premium processing service. Eventually, on April 19, 2018, the I-140 EB2 Petition for our Filipino client was approved without any Request for Evidence (RFE).

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CASE: I-140 (EB-3)
EMPLOYER:  E-Commerce Merchandiser Employer in Dallas, TX

BENEFICIARY: Korean Operations Research Analyst

Our client is from South Korea and his prospective employer was willing to do an immigration petition for him, second-preference. Our client has a Master’s degree in Business Administration. After talking to our client, our firm concluded that his employer can petition him as an Operations Research Analyst. Based on our client’s education and work background, our office determined that he 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 May 18, 2017, the prevailing wage request was filed.  After we obtained Prevailing Wage determination, our office filed the job order on August 8, 2017. On October 11, 2017, we promptly filed PERM. Eventually, on March 19, 2018, 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 April 13, 2018 via premium processing service. Eventually, on April 26, 2018, the I-140 EB2 Petition for our Korean client was approved without any Request for Evidence (RFE). He can file an I-485 adjustment of status application for his green at any time since his priority dates are current.

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CASE: I-140 (Derivative Beneficiary) and Adjustment of Status

CLIENT: Filipina

LOCATION: Houston, TX

Our client retained us for her green card application. Our client was born and raised in the Philippines. Her husband became a beneficiary of the approved EB-2 I-140 petition from his employer and got his green card in January 2016. She could have been a derivative applicant at the time of her husband’s green card filing, but she was not in the United States at that time. Nevertheless, we explained to our client that we can do I-824 and consular processing for her when she wants to permanently move to the United States.

In February 2016, her husband contacted our office to do an I-824 follow-to-join application to the USCIS so that our client can file an immigrant visa and come as a derivative beneficiary of the I-140 petition. He retained our office on February 26, 2016, to help bring our client to the States.

After we were retained, our office filed an I-824 follow-to-join application to the USCIS on March 8, 2016.  After the I-824 was filed, everything went smoothly and the receipt notice came on time. The I-824 application was approved by the USCIS on August 22, 2016, and this case was transferred to the National Visa Center.

Nevertheless, in January 2017, our client visited the United States with her B-2 visitor’s visa. Once she came to the United States, she asked our office whether she can file adjustment of status application (instead of filing immigrant visa in the Philippines) in the United States. She retained our office for her adjustment of status process.

Once retained, our firm prepared and filed the Adjustment of Status Application on March 17, 2017, for our client.  Everything went smoothly and the receipt notices, fingerprint appointment, and a work permit all came on time. In December 2017, the USCIS schedule our client’s adjustment of status interview at Houston USCIS Field Office.

Prior to the interview, we thoroughly prepared our client through conference calls.  On January 22, 2018, our client was interviewed at the Houston USCIS Field office in Texas.  Eventually, on February 26, 2018, her green card application was approved.

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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.

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CASE: Immigrant Visa / I-140 (EB-2 Category) / Schedule A

EMPLOYER: Nursing Care Facility

BENEFICIARY: Filipino Nurse Manager in the Philippines

LOCATION: Manila, Philippines

Our client is in the Philippines. His prospective employer-sponsor was willing to petition him for a second-preference employment immigrant visa petition (I-140). Since he has a registered nurse license and the proffered position for him is a nurse manager at the nursing care facility, the petitioner wanted to try going for a “Schedule A” classification. They also wanted to do EB2 (requiring at least a Masters degree or Bachelors degree + 5 yrs experience).

The Department of Labor (DOL) maintains a schedule of occupations in its regulations, Schedule A included, for which the individual permanent labor certification procedure is not required. The schedule of pre-certified occupations is referred to as Schedule A, and is included in DOL regulations at 20 CFR 656.10. Based on an occupation’s inclusion on Schedule A, an employer may file an immigrant visa petition (I-140) directly with the (USCIS) without having to file a Labor Certification with the Department of Labor. Usually, prior to filing I-140 petitions (EB-2 or EB-3 category), the employer must file a Labor Certification to the Department of Labor. However, for Schedule A cases, the employer does not have to go through the labor certification process. We argued that the position of Health Services Manager should be classified under Schedule A. We argued that it falls under the broad spectrum of “professional nurse” occupations. We also argued that the job description has excerpts that fall under “professional nurse” and that the description justifies the requirements also of Bachelor’s degree in nursing and five years of related experiences.

Our client has a master’s degree in nursing and years of experience as a registered nurse. He also has a registered nursing license in the state of Texas. Our office was retained and we started on the Prevailing Wage Determination filing and other related matters.

Once the prevailing wage was determined, we filed the I-140 application on July 6, 2017 via premium processing. We included a job offer letter, the notice of filing, employment letter, and other necessary supporting documents. In our cover brief, we included the “ability to pay” argument and why the nurse manager position falls under a Schedule A and EB2 designation.

Eventually, on July 17, 2017, the USCIS Texas Service Center approved his EB-2 I-140 petition.

After the approval of the I-140 petition, our client retained us again for his immigrant visa processing. Once we were retained, our office filed the immigrant visa packets to the National Visa Center on September 13, 2017, who in turn forwarded the client’s materials to the U.S. Embassy in Manila, Philippines. An interview notice was set for the client at the U.S. Embassy in Philippines. On February 6, 2018, our client appeared at the U.S. Embassy in Manila, Philippines. Eventually, after the interview, the Immigrant Visa was issued for our client.

With the approved Immigrant Visa, our client can come to the United States immediately, and he will get his green card within two months of entry.

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CASE: I-140 (EB-2 Category) / Schedule A / Premium Processing

EMPLOYER: Hospital

BENEFICIARY: Korean Nurse Practitioner

LOCATION: Cleveland, Ohio

Our client is a certified nurse practitioner. Her current employer was willing to petition her for a second-preference employment immigrant visa petition (I-140). Since she is a certified nurse practitioner, she was eligible for “Schedule A” classification.

The Department of Labor (DOL) maintains a schedule of occupations in its regulations, Schedule A included, for which the individual permanent labor certification procedure is not required. The schedule of pre-certified occupations is referred to as Schedule A, and is included in DOL regulations at 20 CFR 656.10. Based on an occupation’s inclusion on Schedule A, an employer may file an immigrant visa petition (I-140) directly with the (USCIS) without first going to the DOL for a labor certification. Usually, prior to filing I-140 petitions (EB-2 or EB-3 category), the employer must file a Labor Certification to the Department of Labor. However, for Schedule A cases, the employer does not have to go through the labor certification process. The position of Nurse Practitioner is included in Schedule A.

Our client has a Bachelors and Masters degree in nursing and is a certified Nurse Practitioner. Our office was retained on August 1, 2017, and we filed the Prevailing Wage Determination immediately.

We filed the I-140 application on January 18, 2018 via premium processing. We included the job offer letter, the notice of filing, employment letter, and other necessary supporting documents. In our cover brief, we included the “ability to pay” argument and why nurse practitioners must fall under the Schedule A designation.  

However, on January 29, 2018, the USCIS Nebraska Service Center issued the Request for Evidence (RFE) for our client’s I-140 petition. The USCIS requested our client to submit her official transcript. Our office immediately filed Response to RFE with our client’s official transcript. Eventually, on February 8, 2018, the USCIS Nebraska Service Center approved her EB-2 I-140 petition. Since the priority date for Korean national is current for the EB-2 category, she is eligible to file her adjustment of status application now.

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CASE: I-485 Adjustment of Status / I-140 (EB-2 Category) / Schedule A

EMPLOYER: Nursing Care Facility

BENEFICIARY: Filipina

LOCATION: Houston, TX

Our client is in the United States on an H-4 visa. Her prospective employer-sponsor was willing to petition her for a second-preference employment immigrant visa petition (I-140). Since she has a registered nurse license and the proffered position for her is a nurse manager at the nursing care facility, the petitioner wanted to go for a “Schedule A” classification. They also wanted to do EB2 (requiring at least a Masters degree or Bachelors degree + 5 yrs experience).

The Department of Labor (DOL) maintains a schedule of occupations in its regulations, Schedule A included, for which the individual permanent labor certification procedure is not required. The schedule of pre-certified occupations is referred to as Schedule A, and is included in DOL regulations at 20 CFR 656.10. Based on an occupation’s inclusion on Schedule A, an employer may file an immigrant visa petition (I-140) directly with the (USCIS) without having to file a Labor Certification with the Department of Labor. Usually, prior to filing I-140 petitions (EB-2 or EB-3 category), the employer must file a Labor Certification to the Department of Labor. However, for Schedule A cases, the employer does not have to go through the labor certification process. We argued that the position of Health Services Manager should be classified under Schedule A. We argued that it falls under the broad spectrum of “professional nurse” occupations. We also argued that the job description has excerpts that fall under “professional nurse” and that the description justifies the requirements also of Bachelor’s degree in nursing and five years of related experiences.

Our client has a Bachelor’s degree in nursing and 5 years of experience as a staff nurse. She also has a registered nursing license in the state of Texas. Our office was retained and we started on the Prevailing Wage Determination filing and other related matters.

Once the prevailing wage was determined, we filed the I-140 application on February 22, 2017 via premium processing. We included a job offer letter, the notice of filing, employment letter, and other necessary supporting documents. In our cover brief, we included the “ability to pay” argument and why the nurse manager position falls under a Schedule A and EB2 designation. Eventually, on March 8, 2017, the USCIS Texas Service Center approved her EB-2 I-140 petition.

Once her I-140 petition was approved, she retained our office again and determined to file an adjustment of status application for her and her husband. On April 5, 2017, 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 at via conference calls as well. On January 24, 2018, our client was interviewed at Houston Texas USCIS office. Attorney Sung Hee (Glen) Yu from our office also accompanied our clients as well. Eventually, on January 25, 2018, her green card application was approved. Her husband’s green card was approved as well.

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CASE: I-140 (EB-2)
EMPLOYER: Dental Group in Cleveland, OH
BENEFICIARY: Korean 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, professional 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 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).

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