On January 4^th, 2017, we received another EB-1A (Alien of Extraordinary Ability) approval for a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Field of Molecular Biology (Approval Notice).

General Field: Molecular Biology

Position at the Time of Case Filing: Postdoctoral Fellow

Country of Origin: China

Service Center: Texas Service Center (TSC)

State of Residence at the Time of Filing: Texas

Approval Notice Date: January 4^th, 2017

Processing Time: 13 Days (Premium Processing Requested)

Case Summary:

Merely 13 days after North America Immigration Law Group (NAILG) filed an EB-1A (Alien of Extraordinary Ability) petition for our client (a postdoctoral fellow from China), the USCIS approved his case. The reason it took less than 2 weeks instead of 4-9 months had to do with Premium Processing (PP). PP is a paid option offered by the USCIS that allows petitioners filing I-140 petitions under specific categories (such as EB-1A) to have action taken on their cases within 15 days. By paying an extra $1,225, our client significantly sped up the adjudication timeline, propelling him closer to his end goal of obtaining a green card.

As part of our comprehensive services, we evaluated our client’s credentials and determined an appropriate legal strategy that would help him obtain EB-1A petition approval. Apart from highlighting his achievements (such as the 668 citations gathered from his 14 published articles), we also helped him narrow down a list of his peers who would make good recommenders. We made sure that the shortlisted candidates were familiar with our client’s work and could discuss his research in the field of molecular biology. We then urged our client to contact these candidates and ask them for recommendation letters. To our delight, four expert molecular biologists agreed to advocate for the approval of our client’s EB-1A petition, one of whom stated that “[Client] is one of the most experienced molecular medicine researchers currently working; his contributions to the field are invaluable.” Another expert noted that our client has “…demonstrated that he is an elite molecular medicine researcher whose discoveries are integral to further headway in his field and in cancer management.”

Our client’s well-prepared EB-1A petition dossier also contained details on the 60 times he assessed the work of his peers as well as his work on the applications of molecular medicine in oncology and immunology. We proved to the USCIS that our client’s findings address some of the United States’ most pressing issues in understanding immune deregulation in cancer and other diseases.

We are pleased that the USCIS approved our client’s EB-1A petition and that our client chose to retain our I-485 services. We recently filed an I-485 application on his behalf and join him as he waits for the USCIS to take action on his application. Once approved, he will become an American permanent resident. We thank our client for working with us and wish him the best as he continues to conduct research in the US.