Success Stories: Having Already Received NIW Approval, an Associate Professor was able to Secure EB-1A Approval in the Field of Geological Engineering with Our Ongoing Support

Case Summary:

An Associate Professor with a Ph.D. in applied chemistry was approved for an EB-1A (Alien of Extraordinary Ability) petition after successfully achieving his NIW approval back in 2023. The North American Immigration Law Group first assessed his credentials before entering into the new client-attorney agreement in order to assess the viability of his EB-1A application. We concluded that only after a comprehensive assessment could we guide him to attain the alien of extraordinary ability visa approval. So, after a skillful process of reviewing his file, supporting documentation, and relevant data, our staff was certain that it would be sufficient to convince USCIS to grant our client an EB-1A approval.

We emphasized the subsequent details to strengthen his EB1A petition package:

• We recognized the 34 peer-reviewed journal articles (15 of them first-authored or co-first-authored), and 4 published patents (2 of them first-authored) he published in some of the most discerning, high-impact journals in his field of geological engineering.
• The remarkable feat of receiving 718 citations in other peer-reviewed journal publications and being cited by scholars from at least 56 countries further demonstrated the importance of our client’s work.
• He has also participated in academic activities like peer review, which is an intense vetting process wherein elite scholars scrutinize every fine detail of a manuscript submitted to a journal. Prior to selection as reviewers, these scholars have been deemed as highly knowledgeable contributors to their designated field of research. He has conducted at least 27 reviews to date, showing that he is widely viewed as a credible researcher who holds great authority over subjects in the civil engineering field.

In addition, our client’s research addresses some of our nation’s and the world’s most pressing issues, including molecular dynamics and simulations of gases in coal, the permeability and diffusivity of clay mineral interlayers as well as its interactions with shale gases. He is particularly well-known for his contributions to molecular dynamics and simulations of gases in coal.

Furthermore, our client has seen great success during his time in civil engineering, which is backed up by the many publications in his name and the great number of times other academics have referred to his projects in the form of citations. His performance in civil engineering is remarkable and establishes his position as a lead researcher in the field. Thus, we added four recommendation letters obtained from his peers, and one of them stated the following:-

“Between [client’s] citation record and his impactful contributions to civil engineering, he holds a skillset unparalleled by other scholars working adjacent to him in the field. As a result, the benefits he offers the United States simply cannot be overstated.”

As aforementioned, he hopes to carry on working in the geological engineering field. He has already made significant progress toward the national interest through CO2-enhanced oil recovery, and his current focus is on CO2 flooding and storage methods in tight sandstone oil reservoirs. Consequently, we are thrilled that our team was able to convince USCIS once more of the significance of our client’s research conducted in the United States. He secured his EB-1A approval in just 7 days because of premium processing. Sincerely, we applaud him for choosing our law firm and commend him for grasping this complex process and achieving this significant achievement.

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