Success Stories: Iranian Ph.D. Candidate in Canada with Approved NIW Petition Can Now Apply for an Immigrant Visa
Client’s Testimonial:
“Thanks a lot for your information and successful efforts in this process.”
On April 7th, 2016, we received another EB-2 NIW (National Interest Waiver) approval for a Ph.D. Candidate in the Field of Electrical Engineering (Approval Notice).
General Field: Electrical Engineering
Position at the Time of Case Filing: Ph.D. Candidate
Country of Origin: Iran
Service Center: Nebraska Service Center (NSC)
State of Residence at the Time of Filing: N/A
Approval Notice Date: April 7th, 2016
Processing Time: 8 months, 3 days
Case Summary:
It took Nebraska Service Center exactly 8 months and 3 days to decide that our client’s EB-2 NIW (National Interest Waiver) petition deserved to be approved. We experienced a couple of setbacks along the way (we raised two service requests on our client’s behalf when the average processing time went beyond what was expected) but despite that, our client is now halfway through the green card process. As he is based outside the United States, he cannot file an I-485 application and instead, has to undergo consular processing to obtain an immigrant visa.
How Do I Obtain an Immigrant Visa?
There are several things that you must do in order to obtain an immigrant visa. This includes, but is not limited to, paying the applicable fees, submitting all relevant paperwork, and attending a scheduled interview at the proper U.S. embassy or consulate. If all goes well, the embassy or consulate will issue an immigrant visa stamp, which you can then use to enter the U.S. with your dependents. The USCIS will then mail your green card to your registered American address within 30-60 days.
EB-2 NIW Petition:
Please keep in mind that before applying for an immigrant visa, you must first have an approved I-140 petition. In this case, our client’s I-140 was filed under the EB-2 NIW visa category. Our job was to convince the USCIS that our client’s petition should be approved, which led us to focus on his 5 peer-reviewed journal articles, his 15 conference papers, the 77 citations to his work, his experience reviewing articles on behalf of several leading conferences and academic publications, and his M.Sc. in Electrical Engineering. We also drew support from our client’s peers by incorporating their recommendation letters into our client’s EB-2 NIW petition packet. One of his peers stated that “Considering the value presented by the application of advanced energy converters in the integration of renewable energy resources, halting [Client’s] research would be devastating to power electronics research throughout the United States.”
We thank our client for selecting our firm to represent his EB-2 NIW case, and we wish him well as he applies for an immigrant visa. We also wish him the best as he continues to develop controllers for use in power systems which in turn, contributes to the reduction of the United States’ cost of energy, its dependence on foreign energy sources, and harmful environmental consequences of fossil fuel energy production.