Success Stories: EB-1A Petition Approved in 3 Weeks for Indian CIO with 140 Citations in the Field of Engineering (PP Upgrade, No RFE)
Client’s Testimonial:
“Thank you very much for sharing this wonderful news! I truly appreciate all the efforts and guidance by you and your team. The entire application process was meticulous and very well organized and I would like to congratulate you on achieving such high standards.”
On August 24th, 2016, we received another EB-1A (Alien of Extraordinary Ability) approval for a Chief Innovation Officer in the Field of Engineering (Approval Notice).
General Field: Engineering
Position at the Time of Case Filing: CIO
Country of Origin: India
Service Center: Nebraska Service Center (NSC)
State of Residence at the Time of Filing: Pennsylvania
Approval Notice Date: August 24th, 2016
Processing Time: 21 Days (Premium Processing Requested)
Case Summary:
Not long ago, North America Immigration Law Group (NAILG) helped a CIO obtain an EB-1A (Alien of Extraordinary Ability) petition approval. With extensive experience in developing risk assessment methods for evaluating processing plants in the field of engineering, our client was a suitable candidate for this visa class. Just 21 days after his petition was filed, Nebraska Service Center took action on his case by approving it.
Why did it only take 21 days to obtain case approval?
The reason our client only waited 3 weeks for action to be taken on his case is because he chose to upgrade it to Premium Processing (PP) 8 days after filing. PP is a paid option offered by the USCIS that allows petitioners to have action taken on their cases within 15 calendar days. Exactly 13 days after our client’s petition was upgraded to PP, he received notification of case approval. Petitioners who do not want to wait the 4-9 months that it usually takes the USCIS to adjudicate I-140 petitions can either upgrade their cases to PP the way our client did, or file it as a PP case right from the start. As the icing on the cake, the USCIS did not issue a Request for Evidence (RFE).
What did the EB-1A petition dossier contain?
Our job was to prove to the USCIS that our client is an asset to the United States and that his professional achievements exceed standard expectations in the field of engineering. We did this by documenting his 7 journal articles, 3 peer-reviewed conference articles, 2 industry magazine articles, and 1 granted U.S. patent. We also noted his Ph.D. in Engineering, the 140 citations collected from his work, and the 17 times he assessed the work of his peers for scientific periodicals. To build upon our argument, we incorporated recommendation letters provided by six other influential engineers, one of whom stated that “For each day of downtime, a plant is projected to lose as much as $10 million per operating unit. […] In order to control these losses, the United States must advocate for strict risk management practices. One of the brightest minds in this area, [Client], currently works in the United States as CIO of [company name]. It is imperative that the United States promote his research, as he is designing cutting-edge strategies for circumventing risks that lead to incidents. His work is at the core of this grave issue.”
What next?
Roughly a week before his EB-1A petition was approved, we filed I-485 applications for our client and his spouse. We are currently waiting for a favorable outcome and look forward to congratulating them on becoming American permanent residents. In the meantime, we wish our client the best as he continues to advance the field of engineering in the United States.