Doctor denied green card while treating Covid-19 patients [edited title]

[Cndn 98]

I don’t know if this is the right place to post this, but does anyone have any insight as to why a doctor currently risking her life to treat covid patients has been denied a green card based on not having “proven her value” in the US. I can’t see how anything could be more valuable to the US right now.. 

 

https://www.google.ca/amp/s/amp.cnn.com/cnn/videos/health/2020/05/06/immigrant-doctor-treating-coronavirus-patients-denied-green-card-julia-iafrate-sot-cpt-vpx.cnn

[TBoneTX 43,286]

Thread title is edited to match title of cited article.

[Dashinka 23,314]

Definitely need more information on this one.

[Cndn 98]

I know I wish the interview was a little bit more detailed, but then again I’m not sure there is anything more to it. The doctor said both she and her immigration lawyer were stunned. She should have been a shoe in. 

[Cyberfx1024 7,978]

15 minutes ago, Cndn said:

I know I wish the interview was a little bit more detailed, but then again I’m not sure there is anything more to it. The doctor said both she and her immigration lawyer were stunned. She should have been a shoe in. 

This seems like clickbait to me without giving sufficient information. 

[Burnt Reynolds 5,058]

I'm with Bill (and Cyberfx1024 who just posted as I was editing), need more information.

 

That being said, the way it was presented by CNN was unsurprisingly slanted with the idea that someone is either owed a green card because of:

- Being an immigrant

- Being a doctor

- Treating Covid-19

 

Naturally, none of these criteria have any meaning to what someone is owed, they all satisfy certain requirements according to the people judging their file or they aren't allowed. Simple.

Edited May 6, 2020 by Burnt Reynolds

[Dashinka 23,314]

Here are the requirements for an EB2 NIW.  It would be nice to know if this physician checked all the boxes for an NIW.

 

https://www.uscis.gov/green-card/green-card-eligibility/green-card-through-a-physician-national-interest-waiver-niw

[Steeleballz 7,550]

2 hours ago, Cyberfx1024 said:

This seems like clickbait to me without giving sufficient information. 

 

 Yeah,  typically when there is a story like this, the actual reason for the denial does not often correlate with what the media portrays as the reason for denial. The whole "while treating Covid-19 patients" angle is click bait because it certainly has nothing to do with immigration aspects of the case. 

 

  As far as I can tell, she has been working in the USA for ~4 years, and this application was based on a national interest waiver. There could be other immigration or eligibility aspects involved. Definitely need more details. 

[Dashinka 23,314]

1 hour ago, Steeleballz said:

 

 Yeah,  typically when there is a story like this, the actual reason for the denial does not often correlate with what the media portrays as the reason for denial. The whole "while treating Covid-19 patients" angle is click bait because it certainly has nothing to do with immigration aspects of the case. 

 

  As far as I can tell, she has been working in the USA for ~4 years, and this application was based on a national interest waiver. There could be other immigration or eligibility aspects involved. Definitely need more details. 

That is interesting.  Here is the first requirement to seek an NIW for a GC.

 

• You must agree to work full-time in a clinical practice. For most physician NIW cases, the required period of service is 5 years

[Steeleballz 7,550]

37 minutes ago, Dashinka said:

That is interesting.  Here is the first requirement to seek an NIW for a GC.

 

• You must agree to work full-time in a clinical practice. For most physician NIW cases, the required period of service is 5 years

 

   I'm not very familiar with the NIW process, except anecdotally. I have heard there are more hoops to jump through and requirements to comply with than the family based cases most of us are familiar with, so ostensibly more ways things can go wrong. We really need to know what it was.

 

   Whatever happened though, I would bet this case was filed before long before Covid-19 was around, and the denial is not related to Covid-19. So no matter what the issue was,  I have less sympathy for the physician for portraying it as if it was related.

[Steeleballz 7,550]

4 hours ago, Dashinka said:

That is interesting.  Here is the first requirement to seek an NIW for a GC.

 

• You must agree to work full-time in a clinical practice. For most physician NIW cases, the required period of service is 5 years

 

    Apparently USCIS decision was that she did not demonstrate a specific endeavor or reason why her case would warrant a national interest waiver. Still hard to say if it was legitimate or not without seeing the details. I imagine the media spotlight may elicit a public response from USCIS. Physician waivers have to meet fairly strict criteria, including area of specialization and geographic area served.