The EB-1(b) application category applies to outstanding researcher and outstanding professors. The EB-1(b) has three main requirements:

• International recognition as being outstanding in a specific academic field
• At least three years of relevant research or teaching experience
• A job offer for a permanent research position, or a tenured or tenure-track faculty position

Dr. Lee, one of our EB-1(b) clients, recently got his green card within four months of concurrently filing his I-140 and I-485 applications. Dr. Lee works as a researcher at a company on the West Coast. He obtained a master’s degree in material engineering in China and a Ph.D. in Material Engineering at a U.S. university.

We would like to share Dr. Lee’s case with you to help you understand the EB-1(b) application requirements and our firm’s procedure for EB-1(b) applications.

June 2006:

Dr. Lee e-mailed his CV to our firm to inquire about the optimal path for his green-card application. Attorney Zhang did a free evaluation for him and found that his credentials were impressive and met all three requirements for EB-1(b) applications:

1. Dr. Lee was recognized internationally in his field:
• He had made original research contributions to his field.
• He had published 12 scholarly articles in peer-reviewed journals and made several conference presentations;
2. Dr. Lee had at least three years of research experience in his field.
3. Dr. Lee had been offered a research scientist position with no fixed term, in which he would ordinarily expect permanent employment.

Therefore, Attorney Zhang emailed back to Dr. Lee within 24 hours and encouraged Dr. Lee to apply for permanent residence via the EB-1(b) category as an outstanding researcher.

In this email, Attorney Zhang also suggested that Dr. Lee get six recommendation letters, including two independent letters written by researchers who had not worked with Dr. Lee and did not know him personally, but were familiar with his work through his publications and presentations at scientific conferences.

July 2006:

Dr. Lee took Attorney Zhang’s suggestion and retained our firm for his EB-1(b) application. He downloaded the retainer contract from our website, and faxed it back to our Houston office with his signature.

August 2006:

Dr. Lee’s case was assigned to an attorney in our firm. Dr. Lee and the attorney started to prepare his case, including recommendations and other materials.

September 2006:

Dr. Lee complained to Attorney Zhang in an email that he was having communication problems with the attorney in charge of his case. Dr. Lee’s in-charge attorney didn’t speak Chinese, Dr. Lee’s native language, and he was having trouble communicating in English.

We reassigned Dr. Lee’s case to one of our firm’s Chinese-speaking attorneys. Dr. Lee was happy about this reassignment, and so were we: our clients’ satisfaction is our first priority.

March 2007:

The petition letter plays an important role in EB-1 cases (for details about how to write a good petition letter, please refer to our article “Less Is More: The Art of NIW or EB-1 Petition Letters.” (http://www.hooyou.com/news/news072707art.html )

After several back-and-forth revisions with Dr. Lee, his in-charge attorney completed his petition letter. Dr. Lee’s petition letter emphasized that he had made important contributions to materials science research. In addition to mentioning Dr. Lee’s 12 journal publications and other conference presentations, the petition letter explained that his work had been cited over 100 times by researchers around the world, and that it had led to 2 patent filings. The petition letter also pointed out that professional media in Dr. Lee’s research field had reported on his work.

The letter concluded that Dr. Lee was a researcher of outstanding accomplishment and that he was therefore qualified for an outstanding researcher EB-1(b) petition.

April 2007:

At this time, there was no immigration visa retrogression for China-born EB-1 applicants. Dr. Lee’s in-charge attorney prepared I-485 applications for Dr. Lee’s family and planned to concurrently file I-140 and I-485.

May 2007:

Our firm filed Dr. Lee’s I-140 and his family’s I-485 applications by FedEx.

August 1, 2007:

USCIS approved Dr. Lee’s I-140 petition.

August 15, 2007:

USCIS approved the I-485 applications of Dr. Lee and his wife.

September 5, 2007:

Dr. Lee and his wife received their green cards — less than four months after we filed their cases.

We are very happy that Dr. Lee got his green card in such a short period of time. Cases like this are the best rewards for our attorneys and supporting staff.

Currently, it usually takes USCIS about 6 to 12 months to process I-140 cases and one to two years to process I-485 applications. In this case, the applicant’s qualifications, the attorney’s work, and a certain amount of luck all factored into our success. For example, the FBI name check for I-485 applications can delay the process; Dr Lee was lucky because his and his wife’s name checks went through quickly. In addition, his I-140 was approved only within three months after filing.

Not everybody is as lucky as Dr. Lee. However, all applicants can take action to facilitate their green card applications. For instance, they can accumulate strong qualifications in the early stages of their careers. For more information about how one can build qualifications for green card application, please refer to our recent article “More is More: Hard Evidence in NIW Applications” (http://www.hooyou.com/news/news092007niw.html).

(In order to protect the client’s privacy, all of the client’s identifying information has been changed.)

Founded in 1996, Zhang & Associates, P.C. offers legal services to clients nation-wide in all aspects of U.S immigration laws. Our attorneys and supporting professionals are committed to providing high quality service to our clients, and we specialize in NIW, EB-1, PERM and I-485 cases in particular. In the past eleven years, we have successfully helped thousands of clients get their green cards. If you plan to apply for a green card, please send your CV to Attorney Jerry Zhang (info@hooyou.com) for a free evaluation.

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Tel：1-800-230-7040, 713-771-8433
Email: @hooyou.com">info@hooyou.com
website： http://www.hooyou.com