CASE: I-140 / National Interest Waiver
CLIENT: Korean
LOCATION: Seoul, South Korea
Our client contacted us about the possibility of doing a National Interest Waiver self-petition. He is a researcher in South Korea and he is an exceptional researcher and scientist in the field of data science research.
Throughout his career, our client’s research showed that decision science can help find optimal policy alternatives for politics, international affairs and technology management. His approach, describing government arms deals as an optimal decision-making process between technology-economics-industry perspectives and political-military perspectives, can directly help us understand the arms deal policymaking process among multiple countries. Because of his innovative research, our client’s research works were highly evaluated by the reviewers of various journals and by colleagues and experts in the field.
Upon review of his credentials and qualifications, our office determined that he was definitely qualified for the National Interest Waiver (NIW) category. Being qualified for NIW is beneficial since you would not need an employer nor family member to petition for you for green card purposes. You’d be eligible for a self-petition and unless you are from China or India, in which case you’d still have to wait for priority dates to be current, you would be eligible to apply for adjustment of status (green card) immediately without any lag in priority dates.
As a primer, NIW applicants must have a master’s or higher degree. While we prepared his case, the AAO set the new standards for NIW cases in Matter of Dhanasar, 26 I&N Dec. 884 (AAO 2016). Under the new standard, the petitioner must demonstrate that the foreign national’s proposed endeavor has both substantial merit and national importance. Next, it must be shown that he or she is well positioned to advance the proposed endeavor. Finally, the petitioner seeking the waiver needs to demonstrate that, on balance, it would be beneficial to the United States to waive the job offer and labor certification requirements. Id.
Our office prepared a 24-page brief for our client’s NIW filing. Our client also obtained 7 letters of recommendation from his colleagues and internationally-recognized researchers. Our office also included his publication records, presentation records, and conference materials in the NIW application. We demonstrated that our client is one of the few elite researchers who have made significant and substantial contributions to his field of endeavor, that he is well positioned to advance the proposed endeavor, and it would be beneficial to the United States to waive the requirements of a job offer and thus of a labor certification for our client.
Our office filed his I-140(NIW) petition to the USCIS Texas Service Center on April 9, 2021. Eventually, on December 2, 2021, the USCIS approved his I-140 petition without any Requests for Evidence. He can file his immigrant visa via consular processing.