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Case Summary:

An assistant professor from Libya hired North America Immigration Law Group (NAILG) to prepare and file an EB-2 NIW (National Interest Waiver) petition on his behalf. In preparing our client’s petition dossier, we made sure to collect as much information as we could on his work in the field of financial accounting. We determined that our client’s research is focused specifically on corporate disclosure and textual analysis modeling, and that his findings contribute to the studies of the American Stock Market, foreign investments, the role of the United States in the global economy, and the factors that impact each.

Based on Matter of Dhanasar (the analytical framework for assessing eligibility for “national interest waivers”), the USCIS was looking out for the following information in our client’s petition packet:

• The foreign national is a member of the professions holding an advanced degree;
• The foreign national’s proposed endeavor have both substantial merit and national importance;
• The foreign national is well positioned to advance the proposed endeavor;
• On balance, it would be beneficial to the United States to waive the job offer and labor certification requirements.

To convince the USCIS that our client deserved to move one step closer to US permanent residency, we detailed the 51 citations collected from his work, the 8 peer-reviewed journal articles, 3 conference papers, and 3 books, all of which he is the first-author of, in his name and the 3 times he had judged the work of his peers. We also included words of support contributed by 6 of his peers, one of whom stated: “The field of financial accounting is valuable to the United States for the country’s part in the global economy. [Client], as a key contributor to the field of financial accounting, is just as beneficial to the country as the field itself. [Client] has addressed a need for developing an innovative study to measure the factors that most impact a firm and its success through profitability.”

Although we presented a strong case to the USCIS, our client’s petition was issued a Request For Evidence (RFE). With our experience of securing over 16,000 I-140 approvals, we were able to persuade the USCIS that our client’s financial accounting research efforts are contributing to the United States’ economy because it is applicable to a variety of fields and he was granted the national interest waiver 10 months and 13 days after his case was filed. We congratulate him for surpassing this major milestone in the green card journey, and we wish him the best for his I-485 application.