Success Story: NIW Approved Despite RFE for a Performance Management Researcher
Client’s Testimonial:
"It has been a great experience working with you.”
On July 24th, 2026, we received another EB-2 NIW (National Interest Waiver) approval for a Senior Lecturer in the Field of Performance Management (Approval Notice).
General Field: Performance Management
Position at the Time of Case Filing: Senior Lecturer
Country of Origin: Iran
Country of Residence at the Time of Filing: Malaysia
Approval Notice Date: July 24th, 2026
Processing Time: 29 months, 15 days
Case Summary:
We are pleased to share that the client’s I-140 National Interest Waiver petition was approved after receiving a Request for Evidence (RFE). The client holds a Ph.D. in business economics and works in the field of performance management, with research focused on emerging technology adoption, management effectiveness, performance efficiency, mental fatigue, leadership communication, and employee turnover.
Research Focus
The client’s proposed endeavor was to continue developing and analyzing strategies for adopting emerging technologies and improving management effectiveness or performance efficiency. We presented this work as relevant to workplace productivity, organizational resilience, digital transformation, and workforce well-being. At the time of filing, the client was employed as a senior lecturer and held an international collaboration role at a university outside the United States.
Evidence of Professional Record
The client’s record included 9 peer-reviewed journal articles, 2 accepted journal articles, 4 peer-reviewed conference articles, 2 first-authored book chapters, 44 citations, and at least 8 peer reviews. The case strategy relied on objective evidence, including publications, citations, peer-review service, citation percentile analysis, and independent scholarly reliance.
How We Demonstrated Significance
We explained that several of the client’s papers ranked among highly cited articles in Social Sciences, General, or Economics and Business for their publication years. The petition also showed that other researchers had relied on the client’s work in studies involving mental fatigue, athletic performance, cloud computing adoption, workplace performance, and fatigue detection strategies.
In the RFE response, we emphasized that the client’s work was not a general business interest, but a focused performance management endeavor tied to technology adoption, productivity, organizational performance, and workforce efficiency.
Approval
By connecting the client’s academic background, research output, citation impact, peer-review activity, and ongoing research plans to the NIW standard, we demonstrated that the client was well positioned to advance a nationally important endeavor. USCIS approved the client’s I-140 NIW petition after an RFE, supporting the client’s continued work in performance management and organizational resilience.