On April 26^th, 2019 and January 6^th, 2020, we received another O-1A (Individual with extraordinary ability or achievement) and NIW (National Interest Waiver) approval for an Attending Physician in the Field of Cardiac Electrophysiology (Approval Notice).

General Field: Cardiac Electrophysiology

Position at the Time of Case Filing: Attending Physician

Country of Origin: Colombia

State of Residence at the Time of Filing: New York

Approval Notice Date: April 26^th, 2019 (O-1A) and January 6^th, 2020 (NIW)

Processing Time: 4 days (O-1A, PP requested) and 6 months, 9 days (NIW)

Case Summary:

An attending physician from Colombia hired North America Immigration Law Group (WeGreened.com) to build a customized NIW petition for him. When we were preparing for his NIW case, our client reached out to us again to evaluate his credentials for the O1 visa. Once we carefully examined his credentials, we were assured that our client had the right set of qualifications to be considered for the O1 petition. Also, to qualify for an O-1 visa, the beneficiary must demonstrate extraordinary ability by sustained national or international acclaim and must be temporarily in the United States to continue work in the area of extraordinary ability. As O-1A is an employer-sponsored visa category, our client could not self-petition and needed his employer’s full support before hiring us. Once we received confirmation from our client and his employer, our team went on to build a strong case again for him. Since our client opted for Premium Processing (PP), his case was approved in only 4 days.

Perhaps the most important element of both petitions had to do with our client’s research. We carefully reviewed his research summary and detailed his work on studying aspects of atrial and ventricular arrhythmias, especially relating to the prevention of stroke in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF). We demonstrated to the USCIS that our client’s work in this area is of great importance because his research leads directly to improving how heart rhythm disorders are diagnosed and treated. Our client has also contributed heavily toward mitigating the damage caused by cardiovascular diseases, which is substantial evidence in favor of his continuing career.

Apart from completing successful research in the field, our client has also published 56 peer-reviewed journal articles (16 of them first-authored), 4 in press manuscripts, 1 letter to the editor, 1 editorial (first- authored), and 3 book chapters peer-reviewed scientific articles that collected 837 citations by the time when we were ready to file his case; thereby demonstrating that these publications are widely recognized and relied upon in the field of cardiac electrophysiology. He has also conducted 159 reviews for distinguished journals and conferences. The fact that his papers being published in the top journals and that his peers leveraged his research demonstrated that our client’s work is widely recognized and relied upon in his field.

4 letters of recommendation were included into the petition packet in support of our client’s case. One of the recommenders stated: “It is my belief that [client’s] research is vital to the continued advancement of positive healthcare outcomes for patients afflicted with cardiac diseases and conditions.”

We congratulate our client for obtaining not one, but two approval notices, and we thank him for choosing North America Immigration Group (NAILG) to represent his NIW and O-1A petitions. We wish him the best as he continues his valuable work here in the United States.