Case Summary:  

Some NIW cases are decided on the initial record. Others become endurance tests, where the outcome hinges on whether the case can be re-explained, re-framed, and re-proven under increasingly skeptical review. After filing on August 21, 2023, the case received a Request for Evidence (RFE) on January 10, 2024, followed by an initial approval on April 3, 2024. However, the case faced a subsequent challenge via a Notice of Intent to Revoke (NOIR), requiring a vigorous defense that led to the final, reaffirmed approval on January 23, 2026.

Throughout this extended process, the goal of North America Immigration Law Group (Chen Immigration Law Associates) was to show, in plain terms and with objective support, why the client’s complex-networks research has national importance and why the client is well-positioned to keep delivering it in the United States.

Specifically, the client’s work centers on modeling, analyzing, and visualizing complex real-world systems as networks to improve understanding of robustness, vulnerability, and self-organization.

To align this technical work with legal requirements, NAILG organized the record, emphasizing three credibility anchors:

• A specialized technical foundation: PhD in Computer Science tied to the endeavor, supporting that the client has deep training in the methods required to analyze complex systems as networks.
• A track record of peer-validated output: 23 peer-reviewed journal articles and 7 conference papers, showing consistent productivity in the same technical direction rather than a one-off project list.
• Independent reliance signals: 327 citations and at least 5 instances of peer-review service, plus professional activity such as session-chair responsibilities. These indicators are valuable because they show community trust and ongoing engagement, not just self-claimed expertise.

When a case enters the RFE and NOIR stages, the issue is whether the petition compels an officer to conclude that the endeavor has national importance, that the client is well-positioned, and that waiving the labor certification requirement benefits the United States. To resolve the government’s concerns, NAILG tightened the narrative to ensure clarity for a non-specialist adjudicator:

• Defined the Endeavor: We reframed the research as a specific, feasible undertaking rather than a broad academic interest.
• Clarified National Importance: We linked his methods to urgent real-world applications, including disease outbreak modeling and infrastructure security.
• Demonstrated Momentum: We utilized his publication and citation record to prove his work is an established, influential line of research rather than a hypothetical future proposal.

Approval

The case was ultimately approved after the NOIR stage. The outcome reflects what NIW cases often require when they face heightened scrutiny: disciplined record organization, clear explanations that connect technical work to national-scale relevance, and objective evidence that the client has already demonstrated the ability to advance the endeavor.