Success Story: We Helped a High Performance Computing Expert Secure NIW Approval After RFE
Client’s Testimonial:
"Thank you very much! I truly appreciate all of your team’s hard work and support throughout this process. It has been a pleasure working with you.”
On June 30th, 2026, we received another EB-1A (Alien of Extraordinary Ability) approval for a Postdoctoral Associate in the field of Molecular Biology (Approval Notice).
General Field: High Performance Computing
Position at the Time of Case Filing: Senior Research Software Development Engineer
Country of Origin: Iran
State of Residence at the Time of Filing: Washington
Approval Notice Date: June 30th, 2026
Processing Time: 27 months, 18 days (Premium Processing Upgrade Requested)
Case Summary:
In the field of high performance computing, faster and more efficient artificial intelligence systems are not only a technical goal but also a practical need for the broader technology sector. This National Interest Waiver (NIW) case involved a client whose work focuses on performance optimization for deep learning models, with the goal of accelerating training and inference time, improving cost and energy efficiency, and supporting deployment on supercomputers as well as edge devices such as laptops and smartphones.
The client holds a Ph.D. in informatics and its applications and has built a professional and research background at the intersection of high performance computing, deep learning, and software engineering. At the time of the case, the client’s work and future plans remained closely tied to improving the efficiency and scalability of large artificial intelligence models. Although the petition later received a Request for Evidence (RFE), North America Immigration Law Group carefully organized the case around the client’s technical expertise, prior research record, and the national importance of more efficient AI and computing infrastructure.
To establish the importance of the proposed work, we demonstrated that the client’s research addressed recognized U.S. interests in critical and emerging technologies, including supercomputing, deep learning, edge computing, and artificial intelligence. We also explained that the client’s research had drawn support from major funding sources connected to national defense, scientific advancement, energy, and health-related research, including the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Energy, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, and the National Institutes of Health. Rather than presenting this funding as a standalone credential, we used it to show that the areas connected to the client’s work had already attracted serious national-level investment and attention.
The client’s publication record also helped show that the client was well positioned to continue advancing the proposed endeavor. The client had authored 1 peer-reviewed journal article, 2 peer-reviewed conference articles, including 1 first-authored conference article, and 3 preprints. These works had received 77 citations, showing that other researchers had relied on the client’s methods and findings in their own work. We framed these citations as evidence of independent use, explaining how an adjudicator could view the citation history as proof that the client’s research had moved beyond publication and had become useful to others in the field.
The case also included evidence of the client’s peer-review service. Although the client had completed at least 1 review, we did not present this number as independently decisive. Instead, we explained that even limited peer-review activity could support the broader record when considered alongside the client’s Ph.D., publication history, citation record, technical specialization, and the relevance of the client’s work to important computing and AI priorities.
The petition was further supported by 2 recommendation letters from experts in the field. These letters helped explain the practical and technical value of the client’s work in terms that connected the research to broader field impact. One recommender noted:
“Through his endeavors, his contributions are a testament to his exceptional skills in advancing knowledge and technology for the greater good.”
For this case, the recommendation letters were especially useful because they helped translate the client’s technical contributions into an adjudicator-facing narrative. We used them to show that the client’s work was not merely specialized but also meaningful to researchers and professionals working on related computing challenges.
After receiving the RFE, the response strategy focused on clarifying the connection between the client’s background, the proposed endeavor, and the national benefits of continuing the work in the United States. We emphasized that the client’s expertise in optimizing deep learning models could support faster, more scalable, and more energy-conscious AI systems, which are relevant to both supercomputing environments and widely used consumer and edge devices.
Ultimately, the I-140 NIW petition was approved after RFE. This approval reflected a carefully structured presentation of the client’s credentials, research influence, and future plans. By connecting the client’s Ph.D. training, publication and citation record, peer-review service, recommendation letters, and federally significant research areas to the Dhanasar framework, we demonstrated that the client was well positioned to advance work with substantial merit and national importance.