On March 1^st, 2017, we received another EB-1A (Alien of Extraordinary Ability) approval for a Ph.D. Candidate in the Field of Electrical Engineering (Approval Notice).

General Field: Electrical Engineering

Position at the Time of Case Filing: Ph.D. Candidate

Country of Origin: China

Service Center: Nebraska Service Center (NSC)

State of Residence at the Time of Filing: California

Approval Notice Date: March 1^st, 2017

Processing Time: 22 days (Premium Processing Upgrade)

Case Summary:

With many years of experience in the field of electrical engineering, our client appeared to be a strong EB-1A (Alien of Extraordinary Ability) petitioner. With a master’s degree in physical electronics, our client is currently pursuing his doctoral degree. A preliminary evaluation of his credentials convinced us that he had a good chance of obtaining EB1A approval, and after countersigning the retainer agreement, we got to work gathering data that proved our client’s extraordinary ability in the field.

In order to attain EB-1A petition approval, a petitioner must prove that he/she meets at least 3 out of the 10 requirements set by the USCIS. The following criteria were fulfilled by our client:

1. Authorship of Scholarly Articles: At the time of filing, our client had already published 61 peer-reviewed articles, all of which appeared in prominent scientific journals.
2. Original Contributions of Major Significance: We established that our client’s work had collected an impressive 590 citations when we filed his case. This proved that his work has been used by other researchers to progress not just their research, but the field as a whole.
3. Participation as a Judge of Others’ Work: We were also able to prove to the USCIS that our client had been invited to judge the work of his peers at least 50 times, which further demonstrated his high standing among his peers.

We also included evidence supporting our client’s contributions to the field of electrical engineering. We convincingly articulated how our client’s research addresses some of United States’ most pressing issues in understanding how to increase the data capacity of high-speed communication systems. We left no stone unturned in convincing the USCIS that our client’s research leads to more expansive and effective communications systems, which positively impacts the American communications industry.

As additional evidence, we included 4 recommendation letters signed by his peers. An excerpt from a letter contributed by an associate professor read:

“Accordingly, as one of the most accomplished names in this area, [Client] has considerably increased our understanding of communications, strengthening scientific research throughout his field…”

After spending months preparing the EB1A petition, we filed it on our client’s behalf and a week later, upgraded it to Premium Processing (PP). PP is a paid option which reduces the adjudication timeline from 4-9 months to 15 days. Our client received notification of EB1A approval exactly 14 days after the PP upgrade, and we congratulate him on this win. We assure him of our continued support with the I-485 application, which he also filed with the help of our firm.