On November 4^th, 2019, we received another EB-2 NIW (National Interest Waiver) approval for a Research Associate in the Field of Bioinformatics (Approval Notice).

General Field: Bioinformatics

Position at the Time of Case Filing: Research Associate

Country of Origin: Ethiopia

State of Residence at the Time of Filing: Michigan

Approval Notice Date: November 4^th, 2019

Processing Time: 6 months, 13 days

Case Summary:

The first step to obtaining a green card is to file an Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker (e.g. Form I-140). Given that there are several categories, we went through our client’s CV and credentials at the evaluation stage and suggested that he file an EB-2 NIW (National Interest Waiver) petition.

Our client is a Research Associate in the field of Bioinformatics. His research focuses on the development of statistical methodologies for the analysis of high-dimensional biological data. His research is important because of its value to statistics and data analysis for various industries, particularly for improving the accuracy of medical diagnosis.

At the time when we were ready to file the petition, our client has published 7 peer-reviewed journal articles (5 of them first-authored) and 1 book chapter, and these publications have collected 90 citations from other experts in the field. Our client also serves as a peer-reviewer for several prestigious journals. So far, he has conducted at least 5 reviews. He has also been granted funding from leading agencies whose mission is focused on ensuring the health of newborn children and expectant mothers, and the grants are reserved for research directly addressing critical problems in bioinformatics and related medical fields. Evidence of these outstanding achievements is included in the petition to support our argument that our client merits the national interest waiver.

We also incorporated four letters of recommendation into the petition packet. We helped our client narrow down a list of candidates who could back up his petition and encouraged him to reach out to them for their contribution of recommendation letters. We believe that these recommendation letters signed by experts in the field play an important role because they provide the USCIS with a different angle to observe our client’s standing in the scientific community. The following excerpt is what one of the recommenders noted in the letter: “[Client], a highly qualified researcher in the field of bioinformatics, has specifically bolstered the tools made available to the scientific community by performing thorough statistical modeling research. His research has supplemented the field’s research, thereby strengthening the scientific community as a whole.”

Thanks to our experience of securing more than 15,000 I-140 approvals, the petition letter exclusively drafted for our client has once again convinced the USCIS that he deserved the case approval. We thank our client for trusting us, and we wish him all the best as he carries out impressive research in the United States.