Client’s Testimonial:
“I cannot say thank you [enough] for your kind help! Really appreciate [it]!”
On March 8th, 2016, we received another EB-1A (Alien of Extraordinary Ability) approval for a Research Assistant in the Field of Cancer Epidemiology (Approval Notice).
General Field: Cancer Epidemiology
Position at the Time of Case Filing: Research Assistant
Country of Origin: China
Service Center: Texas Service Center (TSC)
State of Residence at the Time of Filing: Texas
Approval Notice Date: March 8th, 2016
Processing Time: 2 months, 26 days (Premium Processing Requested)
Case Summary:
In this EB-1A (Alien of Extraordinary Ability) case, a research assistant from China hired us to file two petitions: an EB-2 NIW (National Interest Waiver) petition and an EB-1A (Alien of Extraordinary Ability) petition. It is not unusual for our clients to do this as it increases their chances of receiving an approval notice—if one petition is denied, there is a chance that the other may be approved. In this case, our client received approval notices for both her petitions one month apart.
Significance of a Current Priority Date:
We were hoping for the USCIS to approve our client’s EB-1A petition as this allows her to file an I-485 application (final step in the green card process) immediately without having to wait for her priority date to become current. For applicants born in China whose EB-2 petitions were recently filed and approved, they currently have to wait several years before they can embark on the final leg of their green card journey (due to the quota set by the USCIS). As there is no quota in place for China-born applicants with EB-1 approvals, they can apply for a green card right away.
Request for Evidence:
Even though our client opted to file her EB1A petition under Premium Processing, she waited nearly three months for an approval notice (for PP cases, the USCIS must take action within 15 days as opposed to 4-9 months for regular cases). The lengthy timeframe had to do with the Request for Evidence (RFE) issued by the USCIS. Our legal team was given some time to respond to the RFE, which we did in an effective and efficient manner. Although our client had to wait a little longer than other PP applicants, she ultimately received an approval notice from the USCIS.
Successful EB-1A Petition:
Our EB-1A petition was composed of a myriad of information related to our client’s various accomplishments: the 113 citations collected from her 16 publications, and the 33 times she conducted peer reviews for over half a dozen high impact journals. We also incorporated recommendation letters furnished by other experts in the field of cancer epidemiology. One of these experts had this to say about the impact of our client’s translational epidemiology studies that investigate individual cancer risks with revolutionary approaches: “If [Client] is not allowed to continue her research in the United States, the search for effective biomarkers to treat cancer is certain to suffer entirely unnecessary delays.”
Final Step:
North America Immigration Law Group (WeGreened.com) recently filed I-485 applications for our client and her spouse. We join them as they await good news from the USCIS.