CASE: EB-2 I-140

EMPLOYER: Nutrition Management Company

BENEFICIARY: Taiwanese Consulting Dietician

LOCATION: Kittanning, PA

Our client has a current employer that was willing to petition her for a second-preference petition (I-140).  Our client has a master’s degree in nutrition, a valid state dietician license, and has worked for her current employer since November 2018. 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.  

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 8, 2019.  On February 22, 2020, we filed PERM.  On June 18, 2020, the PERM Labor Certification was approved – an EB2 position for the Taiwanese 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 August 28, 2020 via regular processing. We also filed her I-485 adjustment of status application simultaneously since her priority date was current. On October 1, 2020, our office filed a premium processing upgrade request to the USCIS upon our client’s request. Eventually, on October 14, 2020, the I-140 EB2 Petition for our Taiwanese client was approved without any Request for Evidence (RFE). 

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CASE: I-485 Adjustment of Status  / National Interest Waiver

CLIENT: Korean

LOCATION: Port Jefferson, NY

Our client contacted us in November 2018 about the possibility of doing a National Interest Waiver self-petition. He is a Ph.D. student from South Korea and he has a Master’s Degree in Chemistry. Though he is a Ph.D. student, he is already considered as an exceptional researcher and scientist in the field of synthetic organic chemistry and pharmaceutical research. 

Our client’s significant contributions have placed him at the pinnacle of his field. He has made important contributions in synthesizing chalcone-based small molecules and its biological data.  His research work is very important to the field of Parkinson’s disease therapy. Moreover, our client synthesized more than 100 small molecules targeting Receptor Interacting Protein Kinase (RIPK) enzymes for the treatment of dry Age-related Macular Degeneration (dry AMD).  Because of his innovative experimental 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 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 22-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, presentations, 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 that  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 March 20, 2019. Eventually, on September 6, 2019, the USCIS approved his I-140 petition without any Requests for Evidence.  

Once his I-140 petition was approved, he retained our office again and to file an adjustment of status application for him, his wife and daughter. On October 7, 2019, our office filed an I-485 adjustment of status application for our client and his family members. Everything went smoothly and the receipt notices and fingerprint appointment came on time.

Prior to the interview, we thoroughly prepared our client via conference calls as well. On August 20, 2020, our client was interviewed at the Holtsville New York USCIS office. The interview went well, our client and his family members’ adjustment of status applications were approved by the USCIS on the same day of the interview. 

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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 / National Interest Waiver

CLIENT: Filipino

LOCATION: Boise, ID

Our client contacted us in March 2019 about the possibility of doing a National Interest Waiver self-petition. He is a researcher from the Philippines and he has a Ph.D. Degree in Atmospheric Science. He is already considered an exceptional researcher and scientist in the field of atmospheric science. 

Our client’s significant contributions have placed him at the pinnacle of his field. Our client’s research centers on ozone, a key air pollutant that is produced from precursor emissions and has an adverse impact on human health and ecosystems. Because of his innovative research, our client’s work were highly evaluated by reviewers of various journals, 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. 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 8 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.

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

 APPLICANT: Korean

 LOCATION: Lubbock, TX

Our client is an assistant professor from South Korea, who is currently teaching at a state university who was willing to petition him for a second-preference petition (I-140).  Our client has a Ph.D. degree and has worked for this school since 2018. 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 May 16, 2019.

In October 2019, he contacted our office and retained us for the I-485 adjustment of status application for him and his wife. Our office filed the I-485 adjustment of status applications for our clients on November 18, 2019. Everything went smoothly and the receipt notices and fingerprint appointment came on time. Eventually, on July 15, 2020, his green card application was approved without the interview.

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CASE: I-140 / National Interest Waiver

CLIENT: Chinese Born, Canadian Citizen

LOCATION: Hershey, PA

Our client contacted us about the possibility of doing a National Interest Waiver self-petition. She is a post-doctorate researcher born in China (but a Canadian Citizen) and she is an exceptional researcher and scientist in the field of biomedical research. 

Our client’s significant contributions have placed her at the pinnacle of her field. She has been focused on understanding neuronal development and neurodegenerative disease in various regions of the central nervous system. She has done this through optimizing cutting edge methodologies in molecular and stem cell biology and, through her unique training as a physician scientist, integrated these findings by translating them to laboratory models of various central nervous system diseases. Moreover, her research 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 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. 

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 10 letters of recommendation from her colleagues and internationally-recognized researchers. Our office also included her 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 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 18, 2019. Eventually, on April 30, 2020, the USCIS approved her I-140 petition without any Requests for Evidence.  She can file her adjustment of status application once her priority date becomes current.

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CASE: I-140 / 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 researcher and scientist in the field of Biomedical Engineering research. 

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 characterizations. Moreover, he has been working lately on other subject including bio-inspired materials design (so-called bio-mimetics).  Throughout his research 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 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 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. However, on November 26, 2019, the USCIS Nebraska Service Center issued 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 extensive RFE response and filed Response to RFE to the USCIS 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. His adjustment of status application will be approved soon as well.

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

EMPLOYER: Physician’s Office

BENEFICIARY: Macau

LOCATION: Brooklyn, NY

Our client is a physical therapist. His current employer was willing to petition him for a second-preference employment immigrant visa petition (I-140). Since he is a physical therapist, he 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 Master’s degrees in Rehabilitation Science and is a licensed physical therapist in the State of New York. Our office was retained on October 28, 2019, and we filed the Prevailing Wage Determination immediately.

We filed the I-140 application on March 17, 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 March 21, 2020, the USCIS Nebraska Service Center approved his EB-2 I-140 petition. Since the priority date for EB-2 Macau national is current, he can file his adjustment of status application at any time.

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

EMPLOYER: Physicians’ Office

BENEFICIARY: Canadian Nurse Practitioner

LOCATION: St. Louis, MO

Our client is a certified nurse practitioner. Her prospective employer was willing to petition her for a second-preference employment immigrant visa petition (I-140). Since she is a certified 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 August 12, 2019 and we filed the Prevailing Wage Determination immediately.

We filed the I-140 application on January 28, 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.  However, on February 5, 2020, the USCIS Nebraska Service Center issued Request for Evidence and requested the Petitioner to submit its business existence documents such as IRS FEIN issuance letter, articles of incorporation, and business license. Our office filed Response to RFE to the USCIS along with supporting documents on February 13, 2020. Eventually, on February 25, 2020, the USCIS Nebraska Service Center approved her EB-2 I-140 petition. Since the priority date for Canadian 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 Nurse Manager

LOCATION: Houston, TX

Our client was an F-1 student from the Philippines. 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 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 Nurse 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 has more than five 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 April 15, 2019 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 the nurse manager position falls under a Schedule A and EB2 designation.

However, on April 25, 2019, the USCIS issued a Notice of Intent to Deny (NOID). The USCIS argued that they cannot approve her I-140 petition because the proffered position, Nurse Manager, does not fall under Schedule A designation and it is not an EB-2 classified position. In our response brief, we cited the AAO decision and argued that positions other than “registered nurses” can fall under the definition of professional nurses, and thus fall under the Schedule A designation as well. The position of Nurse Manager for Petitioner, considering its job description, is a “position other than registered nurses that still falls within the definition of a professional nurse.” As to EB-2 classification argument, our office argued that the proffered position has the supervisory role and the complexity of job duties justify the EB-2 designation and the required 5 years experiences under the ONET Job Zone and the Department of Labor’s level. With this detailed response brief and other supporting documents, our office filed the Response to NOID to USCIS Texas Service Center on May 8, 2019.  Eventually, on May 18, 2019, 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. On July 1, 2019, 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 February 25, 2020, our client was interviewed at Houston Texas USCIS office. Attorney Sung Hee (Glen) Yu also accompanied our client as well. Her green card application was approved on the same day of her interview.

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