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Success in an average EB-1A petition In January of 2008, Dr. Chen retained our services to prepare his EB-1(a) I-140 petition. Dr. Chen was working in the specialized field of Atmospheric Science and Climate Change Research, and had received his Ph.D. degree in Meteorology from a U.S. university. He only had 7 journal papers, 12 conference proceedings, 1 national award received in China and several media reports with regard to his research. Attorney Jerry Zhang informed the client that although the case would be challenging, with the help of an experienced attorney to prepare strong recommendation letters and to draft a strong petition letter, Dr. Chen had a good chance of approval. The case was assigned to Attorney Amy Feng who has succeeded in many EB-1A and NIW petitions. In order to demonstrate Dr. Chen’s qualifications, she emphasized that his findings have substantially impacted the advancement of research and development in the field of atmospheric science and climate change research, and that his work will enable other researchers and engineers to further investigate and develop the strategies to solve climate-related problems. She also stressed the significant applications of his work completed by other researchers to demonstrate Dr. Chen’s impact. After careful preparation, Attorney Feng submitted the case to USCIS. In December of 2008, the case received a standard Request for Evidence, questioning the basis of our request to classify Dr. Chen under the EB-1(a) category. USCIS challenged the extent and importance of Dr. Chen’s recognition in his field because all of his awards were national awards from China. USCIS had limited knowledge of foreign awards and needed more evidence to prove the importance of the award. Attorney Feng confronted this issue by requesting six additional recommendation letters from experts in Climate Change Research that specifically addressed the selective standards of Dr. Chen’s honors and prizes. The RFE also requested further proof that Dr. Chen’s extraordinary achievements could advance the national interest. Since his work in the U.S. mainly dealt with pollution in California, USCIS questioned whether his work could be applied to the entire nation. Among the six recommendation letters prepared especially for the RFE, Attorney Feng requested that experts discuss the importance and applicability of Dr. Chen’s work to the nation. She also showed that his work was reported in major media of national and international circulation. To further prove the significance of Dr. Chen’s research, Attorney Feng also demonstrated that he had a major impact on other scientist’s works. She provided evidence that not only was his work cited by other researchers, it was referenced extensively by distinguished experts in high impact scholarly journals. Moreover, she verified that his research not only applied to his field, but also other important areas such as Aeronautics and Space research. Although the RFE only required satisfaction of three of the ten EB-1(a) criteria, Attorney Feng illustrated that Dr. Chen satisfied seven out of the ten. The RFE was submitted in January of 2009, and less than one month later the case was approved. Because of limited visa numbers available for EB-2 China or India-born aliens, it takes a relatively long time (4-5 years) for them to file I-485 petitions. As you know, pending I-485 applications not only provide petitioners with working permission and travel documentation, but they also provide the same benefits to petitioner’s family members. In light of the recession, many employers do not want to sponsor H-1B visas. If you have an I-485 pending, you can work for any employer as an EAD card holder, as can your family members. In contrast to EB-2 petitions, EB-1(a) and EB-1(b) petitions provide China or India-born researchers with opportunities to concurrently file their I-485 applications because the visa numbers for these two petitions are current. We encourage you to send us your CV to determine whether you have a good chance to succeed under EB-1(a) or EB-1(b) categories. An experienced attorney’s help is essential for researchers like Dr. Chen who do not believe that their Eb-1(a) could be approved at first. Experienced attorneys can enhance your chance of approval even if you only have an average case. What makes your green card application different is whether you are willing to try. *Attorney Jing Amy Feng is the associate attorney at Zhang & Associates, P.C. New York Office (www.hooyou.com). She has extensive experience in employment/business immigration, with a proven record of many successful NIW, EB-1, H-1B, PERM cases. Amy received her LLM degree from St. John’s University School of Law. She may be reached at jfeng@hooyou.com. Ms. Sue Jean Jhun contributed to this article. ------ At 10:30am~12:00pm CST on Saturday Feb. 28, 2009, Attorney Jane Xu will hold a seminar in English at our Houston office. She will talk about H-1B, NIW, EB-1, etc. If you are interested in this seminar, please click the following link to register: http://survey.constantcontact.com/survey/a07e2gruz72frcklonz/start ------ (02/22/2009) For more immigration news, please click here |
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