Success Stories: EB-1A Petition Approved for a Co-founder in Maryland in the Field of Environmental Science

Case Summary:

“Building on these facts, {client’s} work on nature-based climate solutions has provided practical solutions for the improvement of agricultural practices, rebuilding of natural resources, and lowering of greenhouse gas levels.”

“In her work, {client} explored innovative ways of addressing climate change through nature-based solutions implemented in the agriculture, land, and food sectors. Her results have provided farmers with updated insurance indices that consider climate change variables and sustainable methods for resource use management. Because of these accomplishments, {client’s} expertise in environmental science helps the U.S. mitigate the economic impact of climate change with viable solutions.”

The above statements are taken from the four recommendation letters accumulated by our client, a co-founder working in the field of Environmental Science. Hailing from India and after completing her Ph.D degree, she approached us to file her alien of extraordinary ability (EB1-A) petition.

Since, a petition for the first preference category of individuals with extraordinary ability, (“EB1-A”), unlike the employment-based immigration visa under the second preference (“EB2”), at least requires:

• Evidence of original contributions, usually through publication, is of major significance in the foreign national’s science, academic, artistic, or athletic field.
• No specific job offer/labor certification is required for a foreign person as long as he/she is entering the United States to continue work in the field in which he/she has an extraordinary ability, therefore self-petition is allowed.
• Performance in a significant role for organizations or establishments that have a distinguished reputation.
• Receipt of a higher salary or remuneration than is usual in the field.
• Other comparable evidence if the above types of evidence do not readily apply to the foreign national’s occupation.

Therefore, we assimilated the following essentials from her academic and professional records in her petition packet to make a convincing case in her favor:

• Her research on sustainable resource management, climate cost of cultivation models, and nature-based carbon drawdown solutions addresses some of our nation’s and the world’s most pressing issues, including climate change issues in the land and food sector, sustainable resource use management for sustained agricultural productivity and growth, capacity building of policymakers and decision takers on climate change and environmental issues, and crop insurance
• Her strong background in climate change adaptation and mitigation, natural resource management, and land and food sector climate solutions has allowed her research to be particularly original, resulting in her success in fundamentally transforming research on evaluation of a variety of robust nature-based climate solutions.
• Her research has resulted in 11 peer-reviewed journal articles (6 of them first-authored), 4 technical reports (1 of them first-authored), 1 book, and 1 magazine article, being cited 972 times in at least 45 countries according to Google Scholar.
• She has conducted at least 10 reviews to date.

Our client’s work has thus been significant, and her achievements are of the utmost importance because it advances understanding on how to address climate change issues globally as well as at various regions, countries and local levels, which positively impacts the environment and the agricultural sector.

She finally achieved her EB1-A (Alien of Extraordinary Ability) approval, despite an RFE. We are delighted to be part of her victorious journey and would like to send her best wishes for her future endeavors.

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