On July 5th, 2017, we received another EB-2 NIW (National Interest Waiver) approval for an Adjunct Associate Research Scientist in the Field of Neuroscience (Approval Notice).

General Field: Neuroscience

Position at the Time of Case Filing: Adjunct Associate Research Scientist

Country of Origin: Iran

Service Center: Nebraska Service Center (NSC)

State of Residence at the Time of Filing: New York

Approval Notice Date: July 5^th, 2017

Processing Time: 19 months, 19 days

Case Summary:

An Iranian research scientist based in New York approached North America Immigration Law Group (NAILG) to help her secure the national interest waiver. As part of our services, our team set out to gather a wealth of evidence that would help her obtain EB-2 NIW (National Interest Waiver) approval. One of the most important elements of our client’s NIW petition discussed her research in the field of neuroscience: her work deals mainly in elucidating the neurological mechanisms of reward memory and movement disorders, as well as exploring various treatment options for serious mental illnesses. We worked diligently to prove that her research efforts benefit the United States’ healthcare by deflecting the medical costs associated with treating these conditions.

The handful of recommendation letters that our client procured also played an important role in case approval. Regarding her research background, an acclaimed scientist had this to say: “It is of no surprise that [Client] has gained national and international recognitions, as her high impact research complemented with the highest education in medicine granted her unique approaches to understanding cognitive processes.” The significance of our client’s contributions to neuroscience was also praised by another leading expert in the field, who wrote: “…she is filling in many conspicuous gaps in the suicidal behavior knowledge base, and by doing so, supplementing modern psychiatric research to a great degree.” These letters corroborated our argument that our client is an asset to the US, and they helped us establish that our client’s work has contributed immensely to the study of neurological dynamics of various neuropsychiatric conditions in the United States and could foster novel techniques to respond to drug abuse, suicidal behavior, and movement disorders, among others.

We also included information regarding her array of noteworthy accomplishments such as her 4 peer-reviewed papers published in esteemed journals and numerous presentations at conferences held by acclaimed international associations. Furthermore, we detailed her impressive citation record that amounted to 36 citations when we filed her NIW case.

Overall, our client waited 19 months and 19 days for the USCIS to approve her petition. The issuance of a Request for Evidence (RFE) lengthened the timeline by several months but thanks to our effective response, she eventually secured the national interest waiver. We are pleased that we could provide her with legal assistance for both her NIW petition and I-485 application (at the time of writing, her application was pending approval), and we wish her the best in her future research endeavors.