On April 26^th, 2016, we received another EB-2 NIW (National Interest Waiver) approval for a Research Associate in the Field of Pharmacology (Approval Notice).

General Field: Pharmacology

Position at the Time of Case Filing: Research Associate

Country of Origin: The Bahamas

Service Center: Texas Service Center (TSC)

State of Residence at the Time of Filing: Florida

Approval Notice Date: April 26^th, 2016

Processing Time: 4 months, 8 days

Case Summary:

A research associate from the Bahamas hired North America Immigration Law Group (WeGreened.com) to help her obtain a green card. There are two steps in the green card process: filing an I-140 petition and an I-485 application. In this case, we filed our client’s I-140 under the EB-2 NIW (National Interest Waiver) visa category.

As we needed to prove that our client is an asset to the nation and that her work is of inherent value to the U.S., we focused on her professional accomplishments. These included, but were not limited to, her Ph.D. in Pharmacology and Physiology (obtained from an American university), the 308 citations gathered from her work, and the 17 publications to her name. We also noted her research efforts that are focused on gaining new insights into microvascular hyperpermeability, and demonstrated that her work benefits the country’s healthcare sector by improving medical professionals’ abilities to combat diseases including, but not limited to, cardiovascular disease. Additionally, her previous research efforts on vascular smooth muscle growth are contributing to the defense of public health in the United States.

Besides including objective information on our client’s achievements, we also incorporated third-party opinions into her EB-2 NIW petition dossier. We helped her select these recommenders and made sure that they were experts in the field and that they were aware of the value of our client’s research in the field of pharmacology. The four experts whom our client approached for recommendation letters agreed to lend their support, one of whom noted that “Considering the great value of [Client’s] research to the treatment of numerous severe conditions, I feel that halting her current work would be devastating to cardiovascular research throughout the country, which is why I strongly support her decision to continue conducting research in the United States … Based on [Client’s] performance and contributions to research, I strongly support her decision to continue conducting research in the United States, which should do everything in its power to retain [Client], as she has become an essential contributor to cardiovascular and pharmacological research.”

From the date we filed the EB-2 NIW petition to the date she received an approval notice, our client waited 4 months and 8 days (on average, it takes the USCIS between 4-9 months to take action on I-140 petitions). We recently helped her with the final step of the green card process—filing an I-485 application. We join our client as she awaits favorable results from the USCIS.