On March 31^st, 2017, we received another EB-2 NIW (National Interest Waiver) approval for a Petitioner in the Field of Medical Image Processing (Approval Notice).

General Field: Medical Image Processing

Position at the Time of Case Filing: N/A

Country of Origin: Iran

Service Center: Nebraska Service Center (NSC)

State of Residence at the Time of Filing: Outside the US

Approval Notice Date: March 31^st, 2017

Processing Time: 10 months, 29 days

Case Summary:

A medical image processing expert approached our firm –– North America Immigration Law Group (NAILG) –– to help him file an I-140 petition, the first step in obtaining US permanent residency. The second involves filing an I-485 application (if the applicant resides in the US), or undergoing immigrant visa processing (if the applicant is outside the US). In this case, our client will undergo the second option as he is currently residing in his birth country of Iran. A perusal of our client’s credentials convinced us that he is a suitable candidate for EB-2 NIW (National Interest Waiver). After countersigning the contract, we focused on compiling a strong case on behalf of our client.

Our client had earned a doctoral degree in medical radiation engineering from a prominent Iranian university and his work focuses specifically on automated processing algorithms for medical tomographic images. What differentiates our client’s research from that of others’ is the fact he has enabled healthcare professionals to devote time and energy to more important tasks than test image interpretation. Moreover, his left ventricle segmentation research efforts contribute to the American healthcare establishment’s ability to treat coronary artery disease.

He also developed an automated system for tooth quantification CT images for dental applications. The integration of the proposed image processing steps in novel imaging systems may significantly improve dental procedure in the near future.

We also made special mention of several milestones achieved throughout our client’s research career. These included the following:

1. Publication Count: At the time of filing, our client had already published 10 peer-reviewed scientific articles in high impact journals with 5 of the articles being first-authored.
2. Citation Count: Our client’s published work had collected 50 citations at the time of filing.
3. Peer-Review Experience: Our client had conducted manuscript reviews for 3 prominent scientific journals. Furthermore, our client is an editorial board member of a prestigious journal. Since only the most qualified experts are entrusted with this responsibility, our client’s repeated peer review service and editorial board membership illustrated his position of authority in his field.

In order to shed light on our client’s international reputation and widespread recognition in his chosen field, we encouraged him to gather recommendation letters from other medical imaging experts. Among the 6 recommendation letters he collected from dependent as well as independent experts, the words of appreciation contributed by a distinguished professor are worth mentioning here:

“There is an acute scarcity of medical technology researchers with the talents that [Client] has demonstrated throughout his scientific career. He is a researcher unlike any other, and the technological improvements fostered by his work illustrate his unique technical mastery.”

The aforementioned recommendation letters established our client as a scientist of the highest caliber and vouched for his suitability for the national interest waiver.

Our client’s NIW petition was approved exactly in 10 months and 29 days after filing. Though the adjudication timeline went beyond the 4-9 months that is considered the norm, we are happy that our client has now overcome the first hurdle and is now ready to undergo immigrant visa processing (IVP). To learn more about IVP, please head to http://www.wegreened.com/Immigrant-Visa-Processing