Our client holds a Ph.D. degree in chemistry and made research accomplishments that had a degree of influence on the field as a whole of molecular mechanisms of diseases. His research has contributed to many advances in the treatment of infectious diseases, malaria, and cancer.
Our client is employed as a postdoctoral scholar at a prominent university and we prepared and filed an EB-2 National Interest Waiver on his behalf based upon his research accomplishments.
A National Interest Waiver is an exemption from the job offer and labor certification requirements if the exemption would be in the national interest. The three factors that must be shown to USCIS to receive an approval of a National Interest Waiver are: (1) whether the individual seeks to work in an area of substantial intrinsic merit, (2) whether the benefit of the alien’s proposed activity will be national in scope, and (3) whether the alien will serve the national interest to a substantially greater degree than would an available U.S. worker having the same minimum qualifications.
When applying for a National Interest Waiver, an applicant can self-petition, instead of having an employer file the petition. We prepared and filed extensive documentation evidencing our client’s past accomplishments and influence on his field of research including reference letters from independent and unbiased sources in his field of research, as well as his publications and media articles written about our client’s scientific findings. Our firm also wrote a detailed cover letter to USCIS describing how our client meets each of the three factors of the National Interest Waiver. USCIS approved the petition and our client thereafter filed for permanent resident status.