CASE: I-485 Adjustment of Status / National Interest Waiver
CLIENT: Korean
LOCATION: Beachwood, OH
Our client contacted us about the possibility of doing a National Interest Waiver self-petition. He was in the United States as a F-2 visa holder and was an outstanding financial specialist with proved achievement in financing, investment, and derivatives. He also did a Master’s program in Financial Mathematics in the United States. Our client is a highly regarded international financial specialist who is more than capable of providing top-notch financial services to the US and international companies in the field of cross-border finance.
Upon review of his credentials, our office determined that he was 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 concluded that our client’s professional work is of substantial merit. Given that he has a plan to provide such services to US companies and multinational companies expanding business in the United Sates, his work will have merits on providing solutions and customized financial products to US companies financing funds at cheap cost in international financial markets, stimulating multinational companies producing products in the United Sates; and therefore, stimulating corporations to create jobs in the United States.
Our office prepared a 31-page brief for our client’s NIW filing. Our client also obtained 10 letters of recommendation from his colleagues and internationally-recognized finance professionals. Our office also included his work experience records, business plan, issuance reporting documents, and other materials in the NIW application. We demonstrated that our client is one of the few financial specialist who have made significant and substantial contributions to his field of endeavor, that she 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 Nebraska Service Center on August 12, 2021. Eventually, on August 2, 2022, the USCIS approved his I-140 petition without any Request for Evidence (RFE).
Once his I-140 petition was approved, he retained our office again and we filed an adjustment of status application for him and his immediate family. On October 14, 2021, our office filed the I-485 adjustment of status applications for our client and his family members. Everything went smoothly and the receipt notices and fingerprint appointment came on time. OnNovember 23, 2022, the USCIS approved our client and his family members’ I-485 adjustment of status applications.