Client’s Testimonial:
“I am happy and very excited about my EB1B case [being] approved after [a] couple of RFE's. I am extremely grateful to the attorneys and other staff at Chen Immigration for handling my case with care and patience and bringing it to a successful completion. I appreciated your effective and very quick work. And I will certainly spread the words among my friends and colleagues […] Thank you very much for your great work!”
On March 11th, 2016, we received another EB-1B (Outstanding Professors and Researchers) approval for a Senior Scientist in the Field of Chemistry (Approval Notice).
General Field: Chemistry
Position at the Time of Case Filing: Senior Scientist
Country of Origin: India
Service Center: Texas Service Center (TSC)
State of Residence at the Time of Filing: North Carolina
Approval Notice Date: March 11th, 2016
Processing Time: 14 months, 5 days
Case Summary:
A senior scientist from India hired North America Immigration Law Group (WeGreened.com) to help him attain green cards for himself and his family. Our client chose to file two I-140 petitions: EB-2 NIW (National Interest Waiver) and EB-1B (Outstanding Professors and Researchers). This is very common amongst petitioners as it gives them a higher chance of getting a petition approval. In this case, our client was fortunate enough to receive two approval notices.
Understanding Priority Dates:
We are particularly pleased that the USCIS approved our client’s EB-1B petition because it qualifies him for immediate I-485 application (last step in the green card process) filing—he does not have to wait for his priority date to become current. Because our client was born in India, he has to adhere to the strict quota system that the USCIS has in place: it limits the number of green cards issued to petitioners with EB-2 approvals who were born in India. For instance, petitioners born in India whose EB-2 petitions were recently filed and approved have to wait several years before their priority date becomes current. On the other hand, Indian petitioners with EB-1 approvals need not worry about this as there is no quota in place for them. They may apply for their green cards any time they want.
EB-1B Petition:
Part of our legal services included putting together a convincing EB-1B petition that highlighted our client’s most flattering achievements. From his advanced degrees to his research endeavors on the development and synthesis of pharmaceutical compounds, we detailed it all. By the time we were ready to file the petition, we had amassed a wealth of information on our client: the 50 citations to his work, his 7 publications, 1 patent, and 20 times he conducted peer reviews for scientific journals. We also included recommendation letters provided by other leaders in the field of chemistry. One of them—a prominent professor—wrote, “I see [Client] as a truly noteworthy individual. He has gone above and beyond what is usually expected of someone of his experience level. He stands apart from his peers in the field and should be supported as a top-level researcher.”
RFE and NOID:
Although we presented a strong EB-1B case to the USCIS, they issued a Request for Evidence (RFE) six months after we filed the case, and a Notice of Intent to Deny (NOID) four months after that. Our legal team responded to both notices in a prompt and efficient manner, and as is evident, our expertise paid off and our client’s EB-1B petition was approved.
Pending Filing:
Because our client chose to base his I-485 application on his EB-1B approval, he did not have to worry about the priority date and could carry out pending filing (filing I-485 while the I-140 awaits approval). We are currently helping him respond to an RFE, and once that is completed, we will join him as he awaits a favorable decision from the USCIS. In the meantime, we thank him for selecting our law firm to represent his case and we wish him well as he continues his research.