Biophysical Society Bulletin | September 2020

Career Development

status), there are two main paths: (1) Extraordinary Ability (EB-1A) or National Interest Waiver (NIW) Petitions, and (2)

kill your PERM case simply by submitting a resume to the employer. If your PERM case fails, then you will not have a path to a green card through your employer, although they can try again in the future and retest the labor market. There is an important reason why you may want to avoid the PERM process. If an employer filed a PERM case for you, you may be forced to work for that employer for years before you get your green card. If you decide to change jobs during the process, you abandon the PERM case because it belongs to your employer, not to you. The only exception to this is rare: You can change jobs and still receive your green card after the PERM case is approved and after you file a green card appli- cation which has been pending more than 180 days. In the next issue, I will address the two most important visas, H-1B and J-1, and how they will impact your path to a green card. Also, check out our latest webinar Green Cards for Scientific Researchers: How to Win Your EB-1A/NIW Case, the recording of which is available on the BPS website. — Marco Pignone, III , Getson & Schatz, P.C. BPS Subgroups – Find Your Home in the Society Not sure which Subgroup is the right fit for you, or even what Subgroups BPS has to offer? This blog post provides a short summary of each Subgroup and an overview of the benefits to joining a Subgroup. https:/www.biophysics.org/blog/bps-subgroups-find-your- home-in-the-society Interdomain Flexibility within NADPH Oxidase Suggested by SANS Using LMNG Stealth Carrier The cover image for the August 4 issue of the Biophysical Journal is composed from a set of light dots, suggesting the technique of SANS, the search for structural information, and the overall shape of the multidomain NADPH oxidase protein. Read more from authors Annelise Vermot , Isabelle Petit-Härtlein , Cécile Breyton , Aline Le Roy , Michel Thépaut , Corinne Vivès , Martine Moulin , Michael Härtlein , Sergei Grudinin , Susan M.E. Smith , Chris- tine Ebel , Anne Martel , and Franck Fieschi. https:/www.biophysics.org/blog/interdomain-flexibili- ty-within-nadph-oxidase-suggested-by-sans-using-lm- ng-stealth-carrier biophysics.org/blog From the Blog

the PERM labor certification process. EB-1A and NIW Green Card Petitions

I will discuss the EB-1A and NIW paths in detail in future articles. The one thing to remember now is that you can “self-petition,” that is, you can file an application for a green card in these categories without an employer. This, however, requires higher qualifications than the second path, the PERM labor certification, and not everyone will qualify to self-peti- tion. The PERM Labor Certification Without a successful EB-1A or NIW petition, you will probably need an employer to help you get a green card. The reason is due to something called the “labor certification” requirement. Under US law, in order to get a green card, most workers have to prove that there are no US citizens or green card holders who are qualified for the position offered by an employer who is willing to file a “labor certification” for you. Many immigrants are currently working in jobs where they are the MOST qualified person for the job. If, for example, you have been working in a particular lab or for a particular em- ployer, on a particular project or a certain scientific problem, that project or lab would obviously suffer if you are forced to leave the United States or if you decide to leave because you aren’t able to get a green card. No one else knows your job as well as you do. The lab or company would have to recruit a new employee to replace you, it would delay research proj- ects that you are working on, and in many cases, important research findings may never be made. However, US law doesn’t take these contributions into ac- count. The law is designed to protect American workers. Al- though racial, ethnic, and cultural diversity benefits everyone — including Americans — involved in research, the law says that an employer who is willing to file a labor certification for an immigrant worker to help the worker get a green card has to prove that there is “no minimally qualified American worker” for the job. It isn’t enough to prove that you are the best applicant. Rather, you and your employer have to disqualify all other applicants (who are US citizens or green card holders) for the position being offered to you. Also, the minimum qualifica- tions for the position are often limited by guidelines from the Department of Labor and these guidelines often set very low qualifications. If a job requires a particular degree and two years of work experience in the field, then any US citizen or green card holder with that degree and work experience can

September 2020

17

T H E N E W S L E T T E R O F T H E B I O P H Y S I C A L S O C I E T Y