On June 1^st, 2016, we received another EB-1A (Alien of Extraordinary Ability) approval for a Research Scientist in the Field of Molecular Biology (Approval Notice).

General Field: Molecular Biology

Position at the Time of Case Filing: Research Scientist

Country of Origin: India

Service Center: Nebraska Service Center (NSC)

State of Residence at the Time of Filing: Pennsylvania

Approval Notice Date: June 1^st, 2016

Processing Time: 6 months, 27 days

Case Summary:

A research scientist in the field of molecular biology approached North America Immigration Law Group (WeGreened.com) for help with the first step of the complicated green card process: filing an I-140 petition. Despite being composed of only two steps, there is no denying that in order to obtain petition approval, one needs to present a strong case to the USCIS. Our client understood the significance of this and thus, hired our firm to help him. After evaluating his credentials, we confirmed that filing his I-140 under the EB-1A (Alien of Extraordinary Ability) visa category would be a good idea.

Presenting a solid EB-1A case:

We included a copy of our client’s Ph.D. degree (obtained from a top university in his birth country of India) and his CV in his petition packet to prove to the USCIS that he is armed with the academic and professional experience to churn out research results that benefit the United States. We also listed his publication record: 8 peer-reviewed scientific articles and 16 presentations at national and international conferences. Furthermore, our client’s EB-1A petition packet contained information on the 11 times he reviewed 7 manuscripts and the 98 citations to his work.

Using the research summary that our client provided us as a guide, we carefully accounted for his research efforts in the field of molecular biology. We determined that his investigations on the post-translational modifications of proteins in cellular function and on the immunogenic proteins within pathogens advance the country’s medical sector. We convinced the USCIS that his findings address some of our nation’s most pressing issues in understanding the roles and functions of various proteins and antigens in the heart, lungs and other organs.

Obtaining additional evidence:

We needed to prove to the USCIS that we were not the only ones who saw the various benefits of our client’s work to the nation. We urged our client to gather the support of his peers via recommendation letters. Six experts obliged, all of whom contributed recommendation letters that contained statements such as this: “I anticipate that [Client] will proceed in a similar fashion and produce excellent scientific work in the next phases of his career. Therefore, I believe that the scientific community would be far worse off without his sustained contributions. I am pleased to recommend [Client] and to confirm his importance to the field.”

Moving closer to a green card:

Overall, the USCIS spent 6 months and 27 days adjudicating our client’s EB-1A case before approving it. We congratulate our client for moving one step closer to his end goal of becoming an American permanent resident and we wish him well as he embarks on the final leg of the journey: filing an I-485 application.