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EB-1B

Green Card for Scientists & Professors

EB-1B

Immigration Desk's helps universities, private laboratories and healthcare facilities sponsor EB1B green cards to retain researchers and professors to fill long-term, permanent positions.

Outstanding Researchers & Educators

Eligibility for EB1B

EB1B is used by US employers to file permanent residency for their educators and researchers. To obtain an EB-1B green card, the professors or researchers being sponsored have to be considered outstanding in their field. We must prove that you are:

  • Internationally known for your outstanding achievements in science
  • Have more than 3 years of work experience
  • Are coming to the US to either teach or research in your field

To prove that the researchers or professors are "outstanding", we must prove that the researchers/professors meet 2 out of this list of 6 criteria:

  • Have won a major prize or award
  • Are members of associations that only allow outstanding people as members
  • Other researchers have cited the researcher/professors' work in their research publications
  • The researchers/professors have been reviewers or a judges of similar works in their industry
  • Have performed original research
  • Have written research papers or books that have been published in reputed academic or professional journals
  • If the employer is a private research facility, the employer must also prove that they employ more than 3 full-time researchers.

Once the criteria are met, the USCIS then looks at all the documentation as a whole to decide whether the researchers/professors are outstanding in their field. The USCIS often consults with experts in the researcher's industry, to decide whether the researcher is outstanding.

While the above list is long, we have successfully helped many employers and individuals receive EB1B green cards through meticulous planning and documentation.

The Filing Process

EB-1B petitions are filed with the USCIS in the United States. It is a 2-part process:

  • Step I – (I-140) The employer files the 140 petition with the USCIS requesting a green card in the EB-1B category. Usual government processing times take several months, sometimes taking over a year. The employer can also pay the USCIS an additional premium processing fee and have the I-140 reviewed in less than a month.
  • Step II – I-485 (Adjustment of Status) or CP (Consular Processing). This is the 2nd step in the process. If the researcher/professor is in the US, they may file for adjustment of status. There are many rules that determine if the researcher can file for adjustment, and when it may be filed. If the researcher is overseas, they must file for consular processing.

    To read about the adjustment process/consular processing please click here

To read additional details about government's filing procedures, please visit the USCIS website here.

  • Green cards issued in this category are usually valid for 10 years and can be extended.
  • Green card holders can file for citizenship 5 years after obtaining their green cards.
  • Researchers and professors who qualify for O-1, J-1 or H-1B work visas may also qualify for EB-1B permanent residence.
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Benefits of the EB-1B Green Card

Like other EB-1 categories, EB-1B is one of the fastest methods of obtaining a green card. This is because:

  • Unlike EB2 and EB3 categories, which are the most commonly used categories, you do not need to file for a PERM labor certification before filing for the I-140. This saves over a year in the process.
  • Because not many people qualify to file for EB1 petitions, there are no backlogs in the category. As a result, there is little wait time to file for I-485. Employer sponsored EB2 and EB3 categories sometimes end up taking 10 years or more for nationals of India, China and Mexico. EB1s on the other hand, take only a few years.

TIP: If you are a scientist or professor trying to choose between an EB-1A and an EB-1B category for green card, remember that you can sponsor yourself using EB-1A, whereas you need an employer to sponsor you for an EB-1B. However, it is much easier to qualify for an EB-1B green card than it is to qualify for an EB-1A.

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Proving an EB-1B Case

Our EB-1B clients are private research labs and universities who hire us to file for the green cards of their employees. We also often help individual scientist who approach us to file their EB-1B petitions. Our individual clients work at private laboratories or universities in the US and reach out to us when their employer is willing to sponsor but does not want to pay for the process, or when the employer does not have their own attorney. Sometimes, our scientist-clients are not doing research but are involved with sales and marketing or are providing services ancillary to the research being conducted.

We have successfully helped both employers as well as individuals in filing for permanent residency through the EB-1B category.

Based on more than 2 decades of experience representing clients, we find that most cases have one commonality - Though our scientist-clients are very comfortable explaining their research in formulae, our audience — the immigration officer — very rarely has that depth of scientific knowledge. In EB-1B petitions, it is our responsibility to talk to you and figure out an answer to the critical question, the answer to which will get the green card approved - “What do you think your research will achieve?”

We find that the answer to this question will get the EB-1B green card approved.

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The Immigration Desk Solution

As your attorney, it is our responsibility to explore your research with a deep dive so we know exactly what the research is designed to do. This level of detail helps us visualize how the research expands current scientific knowledge and theorize as to what its potential commercial applications may be. Then we put this knowledge into a simple, coherent explanation that gets your EB-1B green card case approved.

We take pleasure in all the work that goes into building a successful EB-1B case. We talk to our clients – a lot! We talk to the employers who have an end goal in mind when they spend millions of dollars on a particular research project. We research you and your peers on Google Scholar, we ask you to explain terminology. And we spend a lot of time thinking. We become your partner, invested in the process as much as you are.

And we take as much pleasure in getting a swift green card approval as you do. To schedule a time to discuss your case with us, please contact us.It would be our pleasure to help you obtain your EB1B approval.

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