In the month of April 2010, our office has received extremely fast approvals for our NIW-based I-140 cases. Even though the Premium Processing Service is currently not available for NIW based I-140’s, nearly all of our NIW cases have been approved in one month or less. Amazingly, one case was approved in 18 days, and another was approved in just 15 days – this is a record for our office and is indicative of the improved processing times at the USCIS. Using the case that was approved in 15 days as an example:

 

            The applicant was a medical scientist whose research was focused on fundamental         research of cancer cells. He had seven peer-reviewed articles and 63 citations to      these articles. For this case, we focused on the applicant’s discovery of a  beneficial reaction due to the introduction of a novel compound within the cell.

 

            As noted above, this case was approved in 15 days after submission without an RFE.

 

If the NIW trends we saw in April continue, EB-2 based NIW’s will become an even more popular option for those with advanced degrees. The USCIS is processing these cases at near premium processing speeds without the need to pay an additional $1,000. It appears that the USCIS’ announced intention to decrease I-140 processing times to less than 6 months has thus far been a resounding success.

For questions or comments regarding this article, please contact Attorney Fok at: jfok@jclawoffice.com