Success Stories: NAILG Secures NIW Approval for an Exploration Geoscientist from Azerbaijan in Geophysics without RFE
Client’s Testimonial:
“I am very satisfied with the overall quality of service and will be recommending your firm to anyone I know who may need your services. Thank you so much!”
On February 28th, 2023, we received another EB-2 NIW (National Interest Waiver) approval for an Exploration Geoscientist in the Field of Geophysics (Approval Notice).
General Field: Geophysics
Position at the Time of Case Filing: Exploration Geoscientist
Country of Origin: Azerbaijan
State of Residence at the Time of Filing: Texas
Approval Notice Date: February 28th, 2023
Processing Time: 3 months, 7 days
Case Summary:
Once again, North America Immigration Law Group received approval for an I-140 National Interest Waiver Petition filed with the USCIS Texas Service Center in 3 months. The Petition was filed for an Exploration Geoscientist whose research focuses on developing multidisciplinary characterization methods for geomaterials to improve the speed and accuracy of measurements for the elastic and hydraulic properties of porous materials and improve the production prognosis of petroleum and water resources.
We diligently reviewed his background information and designed a petition package most suitable to him. We compellingly stated that he had dedicated his extraordinary research efforts to the field related to developing multidisciplinary characterization methods for geomaterials, which has great substantial merit and national importance. Among other applications, his research is relevant to improving access to petroleum and water resources in the United States.
We also concluded that his work is of great importance because it supports the development of new understandings of the poroelasticity and flow properties of geomaterials. This allows for new strategies to retrieve petroleum and groundwater from porous geomaterials. His expertise in offshore petroleum exploration techniques and geomaterial analysis allows him to make new determinations on the viability of materials for petroleum retrieval.
We also added further relevant information to his NIW petition:
- He has completed at least 12 reviews to date, and his research has resulted in 5 peer-reviewed journal articles published in no fewer than 2 highly ranked peer-reviewed journals.
- Not only has he completed and published the results of his research in the field, but his research has also gone on to influence his peers. That is, his publications have been cited a total of 64 times according to Google Scholar, thereby demonstrating that these publications are widely recognized and relied upon in the field of geophysics.
Furthermore, we bolstered his petition packet by adding four recommendation letters obtained by his fellow experts in the field, and one of them stated the below:
“His research has received funding from a multitude of prestigious institutions, including the National Science Foundation and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. Each of these institutions is dedicated to furthering scientific research aimed at improving the lives of Americans across the country, and so their decision to support [client’s] study speaks to the impact his findings have had on water management endeavors in the United States.”
Armed with 4 letters of recommendation, his strong application won approval from the USCIS adjudication authorities in just 3 months and 7 days, and that too without RFE. We are glad to have been of help to him, and we wish him all the best.

