CASE: I-140 / National Interest Waiver

CLIENT: Korean

LOCATION: South Korea

Our client contacted us about the possibility of doing a National Interest Waiver self-petition. She is a clinical psychologist in South Korea and she did her Ph.D. in Psychology in the United States. While she was in the U.S., she pursued a career path to become a culturally sensitive and competent psychologist, focusing on working with underserved and/or marginalized diverse populations, while developing specialties in trauma-focused/informed clinical intervention.

Upon review of her credentials and qualifications, our office determined that she 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. 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 concluded that our client’s research and clinical work is of substantial merit, has already aided, and will continue to aid the underserved and/or marginalized diverse population in the United States. Additionally, her trauma-focused/informed clinical care will be beneficial to treat populations (e.g., students, veterans, refugees, women with sexual abuse or domestic violence) who had struggled with developmental and/or shock trauma, and co-occurring conditions including substance use, major depressive disorder, panic disorder, and eating disorder.

Our office prepared a 25-page brief for our client’s NIW filing. Our client also obtained 10 letters of recommendation from her colleagues, clinical psychologists, and internationally-recognized researchers. Our office also included her publication records, work experience records, presentations, and conference materials in the NIW application. We demonstrated that our client is one of the few clinical psychologists who have made significant and substantial contributions to her field of endeavor, that she 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 her I-140(NIW) petition to the USCIS Texas Service Center on July 17, 2020. However, on September 27, 2021, the USCIS Texas Service Center issued a Request for Evidence (RFE) and requested our client to provide more evidence to demonstrate that her work is of national importance and she is well positioned to advance the proposed endeavor. 

Our office prepared the RFE Response brief and explained that our client’s psychology and counseling field and practice, especially as it pertains to the uniqueness of her skills with cross-culture and multinationals, with its growing importance nationwide, is indeed of national importance. Considering the rising problems of mental health and discrimination being an issue even to Asian-Americans, her practice and presence in the U.S. is a benefit nationwide. We filed our RFE response brief on December 15, 2021. Eventually, on January 11, 2021, the USCIS approved her I-140 petition. She can file her immigrant visa via consular processing.

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CASE: EB-3 I-485

APPLICANT: Filipino KRB Electronic Test Engineer

LOCATION: Maricopa, AZ

Our client had a prospective employer that was willing to petition for a third-preference I-140.  Our client has a Bachelor’s degree in Electronics Engineering and has worked for his current employer since September 2017. Based on our client’s education and work background, our office determined that he is eligible for EB-3 classification for his I-140 petition.  Our client eventually retained us on December 12, 2019. 

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 the PERM application could be filed at least 60 days from the job posting date or 30 days from the last ad. Within a week from our retention, the prevailing wage request was filed.  After we obtained the PW determination, our office filed the job order on April 28, 2020.  On September 24, 2020, we promptly filed PERM. Eventually, on May 7, 2021, the PERM Labor Certification was approved – an EB3 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 June 10, 2021 via premium processing service. Eventually, on June 24, 2021, the I-140 EB3 Petition for our Filipino client was approved without any RFE. 

Once his I-140 petition was approved, he retained our office again to file adjustment of status applications for him and his family members. On September 3, 2021, our office filed the I-485 adjustment of status applications for our clients. Everything went smoothly and the receipt notices and fingerprint appointment came on time. Eventually, on December 27, 2021, his green card application was approved without any RFE. His adjustment of status application was approved less than 3 months from the filing date.

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CASE: EB-2 I-485

EMPLOYER: Public School District

APPLICANT: Filipina Elementary Special Education Teacher in Laughlin, NV

Our client has a current employer that was willing to petition for a second-preference I-140.  Our client has a Bachelor’s degree in Education, a valid Arizona Teaching license, and has more than 5 years of experience as a Special Education Teacher. Based on our client’s education and work background, our office determined that she is eligible for EB-2 classification for her I-140 petition.  Our client eventually retained us in May 2020.  

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 the PERM application could be filed at least 60 days from the job posting date or 30 days from the last ad. Within a week from our retention, the prevailing wage request was filed.  After we obtained the PW determination, our office filed the job order on October 15, 2020.  On January 8, 2021, we filed PERM. On July 6, 2021, the PERM Labor Certification was approved without any audit – an EB2 position for the Filipina 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 July 29, 2021 via premium processing service. However, on August 5, 2021, the USCIS issued a Request for Evidence (RFE) and requested our client to submit her past experience verification letter from her former employer in the Philippines. Our office filed the Response to RFE on August 10, 2021. On August 19, 2021, the I-140 EB2 Petition for our Filipina client was approved. 

Once her I-140 petition was approved, she retained our office again for the adjustment of status applications for her and her immediate family members. On September 10, 2021, our office filed the I-485 adjustment of status applications. Everything went smoothly and the receipt notices and fingerprint appointment came on time. Eventually, on December 10, 2021, she and her family members’ green card applications were approved. Her adjustment of status application was approved within 3 months from the filing date.

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CASE: I-140 / National Interest Waiver

CLIENT: Korean

LOCATION: Seoul, South Korea

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

Throughout his career, our client’s research showed that decision science can help find optimal policy alternatives for politics, international affairs and technology management. His approach, describing government arms deals as an optimal decision-making process between technology-economics-industry perspectives and political-military perspectives, can directly help us understand the arms deal policymaking process among multiple countries. Because of his innovative 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 24-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 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 April 9, 2021. Eventually, on December 2, 2021, the USCIS approved his I-140 petition without any Requests for Evidence.  He can file his immigrant visa via consular processing.

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

EMPLOYER: Physicians’ Office

BENEFICIARY: Kenyan Nurse Practitioner

LOCATION: Houston, TX

Our client is a family nurse practitioner. Her prospective employer was willing to petition her for a second-preference employment immigrant visa petition (I-140). Since she is a family nurse practitioner, she is 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 March 16, 2020 and we filed the Prevailing Wage Determination immediately.

We filed the I-140 application on September 25, 2020 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.  Eventually, on October 14, 2020, the USCIS Texas Service Center approved her EB-2 I-140 petition without a Request for Evidence (RFE). 

Our client retained us again for her adjustment of status application. However, our office was informed that our client’s OPT was expired and she had continuously worked for her employer without the DHS’ authorization. Thus, she worked without authorization and overstayed her visa status. 

Section 245(k) of the Immigration and Nationality Act can render the normal bars to adjustment of status found in section 245(c)(2), (c)(7), and (c)(8) inapplicable to certain employment-based adjustment of status applicants who, since their last lawful admission to the United States have not, for an aggregate period of more than 180 days: 

1. Failed to maintain, continuously, a lawful status; 
2. Engaged in unauthorized employment; or 
3. Otherwise violated the terms and conditions of his or her admission

INA §245(k). 

An eligible derivative of an alien may benefit from section 245(k) in his or her own right if he or she has failed to maintain continuously a lawful status, worked without authorization, or otherwise violated the terms and conditions of his or her admission for an aggregate of 180 days or less pursuant to a lawful admission. 

(See page 2, Neufeld Memorandum July 14, 2008, “Applicability of section 245(k) to Certain Employment-Based Adjustment of Status Applications filed under Section 245(a). 

Our client has not accrued over 180 days of “failure to maintain lawful status” nor over 180 days of “unauthorized employment”, and as such, she was still eligible to adjust status based on the I-485 filing through INA 245(k).

As mentioned above, our office filed an I-485 adjustment of status application for our client on December 22, 2020. Our office also submitted a detailed cover brief and explained why our client is still eligible for the adjustment of status through the INA 245K subsection despite her overstay and unauthorized employment.  Everything went smoothly and the receipt notices and fingerprint appointment came on time. Eventually, on November 1, 2021, her adjustment of status application was approved by the USCIS without an interview. 

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CASE: EB-2 I-485    
EMPLOYER: Baptist Church
BENEFICIARY: Korean Assistant Pastor
LOCATION: Cary, NC

Our client is a Baptist church in Cary, NC. They were willing to petition a South Korean for an Assistant Pastor second-preference petition (I-140).  Our client’s prospective employee has a master’s degree in Theology. After talking to our client, our firm concluded that this employer can petition him as an Assistant Pastor.  Second preference petitions for Koreans are current, which means that if a PERM Labor Certification for a second preference position gets approved, the I-140 and I-485 could be filed simultaneously. Based on our client’s prospective employee’s education and work background, our office determined that he is eligible for EB-2 classification for his I-140 petition.  Our client eventually retained us in on September 6, 2018. 

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 April 5, 2019, the prevailing wage request was filed.  Then, our office filed the job order on January 6, 2020.  On June 18, 2020, we filed PERM.  Eventually, on December 22, 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 March 29, 2021, via premium processing service. Eventually, on April 8, 2021, the I-140 EB-2 Petition for our Korean client was approved without any Request for Evidence (RFE). 

Once the I-140 petition was approved, our client retained our office again for his I-485 adjustment of status application. Our office filed an I-485 adjustment of status application for our client on May 12, 2021. Everything went smoothly and the receipt notices and fingerprint appointment came on time.

Eventually, on September 9, 2021, the USCIS approved our client’s adjustment of status application. Now, he finally is a green card holder.

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CASE: EB-2 I-140

EMPLOYER: Public School District

BENEFICIARY: Filipina Elementary Special Education Teacher

LOCATION: Mohave Valley, AZ

Our client has an employer who was willing to do an I-140 EB2 Petition for her.  Our client has a Bachelor’s degree in Education, a valid Arizona Teaching license, and has more than 5 years of experience as a Special Education Teacher. Based on our client’s education and work background, our office determined that she is eligible for EB-2 classification for her I-140 petition.  Our client eventually retained us in May 2020.  

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 the PERM application could be filed at least 60 days from the job posting date or 30 days from the last ad. Within a week from our retention, the prevailing wage request was filed.  After we obtained the PW determination, our office filed the job order on October 15, 2020.  On January 8, 2021, we filed PERM.  Eventually, on July 6, 2021, the PERM Labor Certification was approved without any audit – an EB2 position for the Filipina 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 July 29, 2021, via premium processing service. However, on August 5, 2021, the USCIS issued Request for Evidence (RFE) and requested our client to submit her past experience verification letter from her former employer in the Philippines. Our office filed the Response to RFE on August 10, 2021. Eventually, on August 19, 2021, the I-140 EB2 Petition for our Filipina client was approved.

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CASE: I-485/ 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 in the field of Biomedical Engineering. 

Our client’s significant contributions have placed him at the pinnacle of his field. Throughout his research career, our client has made important and innovative contributions to the field of biomedical engineering and his word successfully demonstrated the development of an oral gene delivery for liver cancer treatment based on gene therapy. He also successfully developed novel Polysaccharide-Coated Magnetic Nanoparticles for imaging and gene therapy. Because of his innovative research, our client’s work 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 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 27-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 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 September 29, 2020. Eventually, on May 28, 2021, 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. Eventually, on August 9, 2021, our client and his immediate family members’ adjustment of status applications were approved by the USCIS without any Request for Evidence (RFE). 

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CASE: I-485 based on Approved I-140 (EB-3)

 APPLICANT: Indian

 LOCATION: Solon, OH

Our client is a computer systems analyst from India. His company was willing to do a third-preference petition (I-140) for him.  He has maintained his status as an H-1B visa holder in the United States.  He had an approved I-140 petition which was filed by his current employer and this I-140 petition’s priority date was October 24, 2011.

In October 2020, his priority date became current. He contacted our office and retained us for his and his wife’s I-485 adjustment of status applications. Our office filed the I-485 adjustment of status applications on October 27, 2020. Everything went smoothly and the receipt notices and fingerprint appointment came on time.

Eventually, on July 27, 2021, the USCIS approved our client’s adjustment of status application. He is now a green card holder.

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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 in the field of Biomedical Engineering. 

Our client’s significant contributions have placed him at the pinnacle of his field. Throughout his career, our client has made important and innovative contributions to the field of biomedical engineering. He successfully demonstrated the development of an oral gene delivery for liver cancer treatment based on gene therapy. He also developed novel Polysaccharide-Coated Magnetic Nanoparticles for imaging and gene therapy. Because of his 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 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 27-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 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 September 29, 2020. Eventually, on May 28, 2021, 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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