EB-1A For Chinese Translator

• Proving a Chinese translating author would be beneficial to the U.S
• Very demanding client
• Acclaims that spanned decades, which includes the difficulty of presenting a large amount of documentation in a clear, concise argument

BACKGROUND

The EB-1A is an extremely coveted document, because it is essentially a fast way to get full green card here in the U.S. While it generally still takes years to receive the green card itself, getting approval for an EB-1A allows you to come to the U.S., work, live, and expect to become a permanent resident faster than just about any other immigration process. However, it is quite hard to obtain. It is a process for the “extraordinary” person, a worker of esteemed and unique caliber. This, along with the current administration’s crackdowns (despite no changes in any laws) on the EB-1A and immigration as a whole, make obtaining an EB-1A very difficult. To qualify, one must satisfy no less than three out of the ten criteria listed on United States Citizenship and Immigration Services’ (USCIS) website. Normally when we get a client looking to get an EB-1A, we provide evidence for as many criteria as possible, usually for all ten criteria. However, with our client Mr. Zhao, it quickly became clear that this was not going to be the case.

Mr. Zhao was an acclaimed author in China. He had been responsible for translating western works into Chinese, which then went on to become some of the most well read books in China. He was especially well known for his children’s books. He was also a historian, and had successfully documented the histories of several well known locations in China. He had won awards for his work. His elite, unique ability as a writer and documentarian were obvious. However, a case officer working an EB-1A case would primarily be interested in how Mr. Zhao could possibly help the United States. When he came to us, we agreed to take on his case knowing that that would be the key challenge.

KEYS TO SUCCESS

The first part of the process was to provide evidence toward as many of the EB-1A criteria as we could. To do so, we had to get creative. Luckily for Mr. Zhao, we are so familiar with this process that we really weren’t limited in the scope of what we could dig up out of his life. His authorship was only one angle that we were able to provide. We found out that he had judged writing contests in the past, meaning he meant another criteria of the EB-1A. He had won significant awards, both in the past and currently, notching another criteria for him. He had marvelous references that were willing to write letters of recommendation for him, which we included with his documentation. His books represented commercial success in the arts, and his scholarly documentarian work lent credence to his work as a researcher.

However, merely gathering documents is only half the battle. Mr. Zhao’s work spanned decades, and if you throw decades worth of documents at an unwitting case officer with no organization, no argumentation, your case is likely to fail. The case officer does not make your argument for you. We had to compile the evidence in an organized, line-by-line fashion to go about proving our points that Mr. Zhao qualified for up to five of the various criteria required by the EB-1A. Admittedly, some of the documentation and evidence for each of these criteria were stronger than others. However, with appropriate argumentation, we felt that we could successfully prove each of our main points.

The biggest difficulty in our argumentation was figuring out how a writer that translated primarily to Chinese was going to positively affect the United States. What helped was Mr. Zhao’s large breadth of skills. We attacked this problem from the angle of his ability to document and describe locations, as he had done in China, would help promote U.S. culture and locales in China, thereby increasing U.S. influence in China and possibly increasing tourism.

Mr. Zhao was a demanding client, and we actually learned a lot from him. A professional author, writer, and documentarian is someone that can be trusted with the most minute details of their own works, and he was able to help us with translations and helped us with the presentation of his own documents. For example, he figured out which of his works would pop best when printed in color.

OUTCOME

We spent months working on the documentation, and even after producing a first draft spent several more months fine-tuning the package to ensure that it was the best that it could possibly be and to ensure it met Mr. Zhao’s exacting standards. Once Mr. Zhao had approved the final package, we sent it to USCIS and awaited their decision. Most EB-1A cases are responded to by USCIS with a request for evidence (RFE), even the cases handled by the most experienced immigration law offices. However, the diligence in our preparation for this case paid off. In two weeks, USCIS sent Mr. Zhao his acceptance letter, no RFE required. He was free to come to the U.S. with his family, assured that he would soon be a green card holder. He remains grateful for all the hard work Tsang & Associates put into his case, and how patient and understanding they were. With the help of Tsang & Associates, Chinese culture is able to further prosper in the United States.

*Name has been changed for client privacy.