usavisanow.com – Immigration Law Office of Eran Regev, Esq.

On April 27^th, 2018, we received another EB-2 NIW (National Interest Waiver) approval for a Petitioner in the Field of Mechanical Engineering.

General Field: Mechanical Engineering

Country of Origin: Nigeria

Service Center: Nebraska Service Center (NSC)

State of Residence at the Time of Filing: IL

Approval Notice Date: April 27^th, 2018

Processing Time: 6 months, 7 days

Receipt #: LIN-18-900-40399

Case Summary:

Our client has extensive experience in the field of Mechanical Engineering and is undoubtedly an outstanding researcher. His consistent contributions to the field made him a suitable candidate for EB-2 NIW (National Interest Waiver), and after determining that we could help him build a solid case, we gathered an array of evidence to support the petition.

Collecting relevant information:

We had to prove:

• That our client’s proposed endeavor has both substantial merit and national importance;
• That our client is is well positioned to advance the proposed endeavor;
• That on balance, it would be beneficial to the United States to waive the job offer and labor certification requirements.

We proved this by detailing his 6 publications and the 14 times they were cited. Further, we detailed that our client’s current research area of interest in mechanical engineering is the development and analysis of technologies that support critical materials recycling and advanced manufacturing. The research objectives include modeling critical material recycling technologies that enable strategic resource independence for the US, analyzing global supply chains and performing lifecycle analysis with the objective of identifying opportunities for advanced electronics manufacturing in the US, developing open source modeling tools to support techno-economic analysis and life cycle assessment of recycling technologies, and electronics manufacturing value chain.

As with all our clients, we advised him on the process of selecting recommenders and obtaining their testimonials. These testimonials supported the approval of our client’s NIW petition and contained strong statements such as these:

“In summary, he has expertise far superior to other scientists or engineers with comparable training and education. He is an outstanding researcher who has made world-class contributions to engineering science research in the area of multiscale analysis, thermal and combustion science, system optimization and economics, as well as technology policy. This makes him extremely well placed to make vital contribution to the strategic technology policy of the United States. I therefore extend my full support, without any reservation, for the “National Interest Waiver” for him to obtain permanent residency in the USA. If you have any questions, please feel free to call me.”

“I wish to provide objective comments on the technical importance of his research contributions to the fields of chemical looping combustion, oxy-coal combustion, and strategic materials recycling. I believe this research has high importance because of its potential impact on the United States’ ability to reduce dependence on imported oil and imported strategic materials, as well as reduce harmful greenhouse gas emissions.”

Despite the wait (6 months and 7 days), we are pleased that our client finally NIW petition approval. As his priority date is current, he is now applying for Adjustment of Status. We thank him for retaining our AOS services, and we look forward to helping him obtain permanent residence status.

Taylor and Associates Law P is a U.S. immigration law firm dedicated to representing corporations, research institutions, and individuals from all 50 U.S. states regarding I-140 immigration petitions. We specialize in employment-based immigration petition and have a proven record of high success rate for the categories of: EB2-NIW (National Interest Waiver), EB1-A (Alien of Extraordinary Ability) and EB1-B (Outstanding Researcher/Professor).

We filed a National Interest Waiver (NIW) petition with USCIS on 5/30/2017 and received the approval notice on 7/27/2017.

USCIS Filing Date: 5/30/2017

USCIS Approval Date: 7/27/2017

Processing time from USCIS Filing to Approval: 58 Days

USCIS #: SRC-17-905-18361

We filed a National Interest Waiver (NIW) petition with USCIS on 2/15/2017 and received the approval notice on 8/23/2017.

USCIS Filing Date: 2/15/2017

USCIS Approval Date: 8/23/2017

Processing time from USCIS Filing to Approval: 6 months, 8 days

USCIS #: SRC-17-902-86192

The AAO Precedent Decision (Dhanasar) has created a new that should broaden the availability of the national interest waiver to eligible foreign nationals

To be eligible for an NIW under the new test, the applicant must meet all of the following criteria by a preponderance of the evidence for each of the 3 following factors:

1. The proposed endeavor must have substantial merit and national importance. A wide range of fields of endeavor may qualify as having substantial merit under the NIW standard, including business, science, technology, culture and education. The petitioner is not required to show the endeavor will have a significant economic impact to establish its substantial merit. For example, a purely science-related position, while not creating economic benefits, may still have substantial merit in that the endeavor “furthers human knowledge.” The petitioner must also show that the proposed endeavor has prospective national importance. Unlike the previous restrictive AAO test — which required the petitioner to demonstrate the endeavor’s geographically nationwide reach to establish its intrinsic merit — even local or regional projects may now satisfy the “national importance” factor. For example, a business endeavor that has significant potential to employ U.S. workers in an economically depressed area may qualify as nationally important.
2. The foreign national is well-positioned to advance the proposed endeavor. USCIS will assess whether the applicant’s education, skills, record of success, and model or plan for future activities put the applicant in a good position to succeed in the endeavor. Significantly, recognizing that “many innovations and entrepreneurial endeavors may ultimately fail, in whole or in part, despite an intelligent plan and competent execution,” the AAO makes it clear that the petitioner is not required to show the endeavor is more likely than not to ultimately succeed. The petitioner is instead only required to show the foreign national is well-positioned — through education, record of past success, and the like — to execute the plan.
3. On balance, it would be beneficial to the United States to waive the job offer and labor certification requirements. For this final prong of the test, USCIS will consider such factors as whether it would be impractical for the foreign national to secure a job offer (such as in the case of an entrepreneur), whether the foreign national’s potential contributions are of such value that they would benefit the U.S. even assuming qualified U.S. workers are available, or whether the national interest in the foreign national’s contributions is “sufficiently urgent” to warrant forgoing the time-consuming PERM process. Key here is that, unlike the previous standard, the applicant need not show a harm to the national interest if a labor certification is not conducted. This more flexible test, which can be met in a range of ways … is meant to apply to a greater variety of individuals, such as entrepreneurs and self-employed individuals.