Success Stories: Armed with 4 Letters of Recommendation, a Visiting Associate in Applied Economics Wins National Interest Waiver Approval without RFE
Client’s Testimonial:
“I am very happy that I was able to work with the North America Immigration Law Group. Throughout the entire process, the team that I worked with was incredibly detailed, responsive, and professional. I fully recommend this firm to anyone who is considering applying to a National Interest Waiver.”
On March 28th, 2022, we received another EB-2 NIW (National Interest Waiver) approval for a Visiting Associate in the Field of Applied Economics (Approval Notice).
General Field: Applied Economics
Position at the Time of Case Filing: Visiting Associate
Country of Origin: Ecuador
State of Residence at the Time of Filing: Maryland
Approval Notice Date: March 28th, 2022
Processing Time: 3 months, 7 days
Case Summary:
An expert in the field of applied economics wanted to apply for a National Interest Waiver (NIW) to the USCIS. Hailing from Ecuador, he held a Ph.D. in Public Policy and Administration when he came to NAILG for his NIW case preparation. Our team following years of set precedent took on his case after signing the retainer agreement and began with a thorough background check. They discovered he was well equipped to carry out research in his proposed endeavor because of his education, experience, expertise, record of publication and citation, and history of successful research in the area.
Our team explored these qualities via his academic and professional documents, and found the following:
- His proposed endeavor is to develop predictive models in the area of health economics and pharmaceutical policy.
- He wanted to study the reliability of the pharmaceutical supply chains through studies using economicmodeling and predictive analytics.
- His research is relevant to the surveillance of medicines in the United States, thus adding to the supportive arguments for his claim to the NIW category.
- His research advancing his proposed endeavor is evidently of great importance because it improves methods for understanding the factors that influence change in vital economic markets, including the pharmaceutical market.
- His work is especially pertinent to this area, as understanding the pharmaceutical market and global supply chains helps policymakers understand and prevent supply chain disruptions.
- Due to its clear national importance, his research has in fact been supported with funding from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), which are both agencies of the US Department of Health and Human Services.
- His work has resulted in 2 peer-reviewed journal articles (both of them first-authored) and 1 co-authored research report.
- Not only has he successfully completed and published the results of his research in the field, but his research has also influenced his peers. That is, his publications have been cited a total of 29 times according to Google Scholar.
- He has pursued research directly related to his proposed endeavor of developing predictive models in the area of health economicsfor 5 years.
- He also obtained 4 letters from experts supporting his claim to the NIW category. One quote from them is given below:
Thus, we were able to show that he is well positioned to continue the work he is doing in the area and benefit the United States in the future as well. We are proud to have worked with him and got him the approval in just 97 days, and we wish him the very best in life.

