Favorite NIW Approvals of 2024!
As 2025 begins, we’re proud to showcase a selection of our notable EB-2 National Interest Waiver (NIW) approvals from the past year. In our Favorite Approvals of 2024 series, we share inspiring stories of our clients’ achievements and our firm’s dedication to securing NIW approvals.
This installment features Colombo & Hurd Immigration Attorney David A. Santiago, whose team successfully guided a Venezuelan client to NIW approval. The client’s innovative endeavor aims to revolutionize the brewing industry through optimized production processes, enhanced sustainability, and reduced environmental impact.
Optimizing Brewery Efficiency and Sustainability: NIW Success Story in Enhancing U.S. Beer Industry Competitiveness
Recently, the White House has voiced support for reducing waste and CO2 emissions, and for advancing technological processes. This NIW success story highlights our client, a mechanical engineer and brewmaster, who aims to revolutionize the brewing industry in line with these White House goals.
In this case, our client from Venezuela proposed to assist small and medium-sized breweries in the U.S. by offering advanced solutions to enhance the efficiency of production processes, reduce costs, cut down on CO2 emissions, and fortify U.S. beer brands competitiveness. His holistic endeavor aims to spur economic growth, foster sustainable practices, and maintain the quality of U.S. beer brands.
Our client has experience equivalent to a U.S. bachelor’s degree and over five years of experience as a Brewing Process Innovation Specialist. This expertise has empowered him to develop cutting-edge solutions for advancing the efficiency and sustainability of the brewing industry.
“As a brewmaster, the client’s main focus was to make brewing processes more efficient and he also wanted to focus on making more sustainable processes for smaller breweries in the United States,” said Colombo & Hurd Immigration Attorney David A. Santiago.
Mr. Santiago also commented on factors that made this client’s case one of his favorites of the year: “Aside from his unique approach and career, his focus on promoting optimization and sustainability practices for breweries and microbreweries made his profile and proposed endeavor really stand out.”
To demonstrate the national importance and substantial merit of this client’s work, we emphasized the implications of his work for economic expansion, demonstrating that it drives growth and competitiveness in the U.S. beer industry. His work also promotes domestic job opportunities in designated Opportunity Zones in the United States. We also highlighted White House initiatives to reduce waste and CO2 emissions and to propel innovative technological progress. The client’s work aligns with these goals and thus has significant importance and merit.
“We focused on time management and communication methods to ensure that we kept progressing the client’s case while also generating the best documents that we can. Thankfully, the legal team that was assigned the case focused on communication to obtain documents as efficiently as possible and we made sure that the client detailed his accomplishments in his field to show all of the benefits that he could provide to the United States,” Mr. Santiago explained, detailing his team’s strategy for best presenting this client’s case.
Due to this focused strategy and the client’s impactful endeavor, Mr. Santiago and his team submitted a successful NIW petition. With his NIW approval, our client has unlocked new opportunities for career advancement and industry impact. Already, he has received interest from brewing companies for potential collaborations and partnerships.
“The client is Venezuelan but due to the sociopolitical environment he and his family had to leave and move to Colombia for a better life. As an immigrant in Colombia with extensive and unpredictable work hours, he was not able to be as present as he wanted with his family,” Mr. Santiago commented on the life-changing results of this approval for the client. “Once he was approved, he thanked us and noted how we were extremely helpful but most importantly, we helped provide a better future for his children and his entire family. That made us, as the legal team, truly understand that we did not just help this specific client who was already an immigrant leaving Venezuela, but we helped an entire family better their lives and entire future, while also bettering the United States.”
Looking back on this case, Mr. Santiago noted the key elements for success: “The details and accomplishments that the client provided in how he already bettered various breweries and microbreweries through better processes really helped in showing that he was the ideal candidate to carry out his specific proposed endeavor. Also, the client was able to use his professional connections to gain interest from breweries in the U.S. to show interest in his proposed endeavor.”
Our client’s exciting National Interest Waiver approval showcases our team’s expertise in highlighting exceptional talent. His innovative contributions to the U.S. brewing industry will propel economic growth, sustainability, and competitiveness, providing transformative solutions to breweries in the United States.
