EB-4 Backlog Unchanged; Consider Other Green Card Options

The employment-based fourth preference (EB-4) backlog which began in earnest more than two years ago when the State Department reinterpreted how nationals from certain countries are to be counted against annual numerical quota limitations, continues with an estimated 180,000 applicants waiting for just under 10,000 visas allocated annually.  Taken in its extreme, this means that the wait for a visa is somewhere around 18 years. The sudden backlog has disproportionately impacted religious workers and international organization retirees, and their spouses, and their children, as well as other special immigrants. For those who have over 21-year-old U.S. citizen children or U.S. or even LPR spouses, other options for green cards may be viable and should be explored.

For highly skilled professionals who lack a qualifying relative to petition for them, especially G-4 international organization staff whose children will be turning 21 soon, self-sponsored National Interest Waiver (NIW) and/or Extraordinary Ability petitions should be explored to determine whether a case is viable. This is because an under 21-year-old child can become derivatively eligible for a green card.  Often – but also misleadingly – coined the “Einstein visa,” extraordinary ability petitions can be successfully prepared for non-academics. Unconventional documentary evidence coupled with strong, objective letters of support often result in approvals. Our firm has successfully filed cases for macroeconomists, finance portfolio managers, risk analysts, climate finance experts, and public financial managers, among others.  For NIW cases, a key to a successful cases is being able to articulate how your work has impacted your field and how your work in the future will advance that field. We can assess the strength of a case by reviewing your CV during an initial consultation.