On October 20, 2011, the Office of the Citizenship and Immigration Services Ombudsman (Ombudsman's Office) hosted its First Annual Conference bringing together more than 300 participants with diverse backgrounds and interests, to discuss their common goal of improving the delivery of immigration and citizenship services.
Chairman Smith, Ranking Member Conyers, and members of the Committee: Thank you for the opportunity to testify today about the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) efforts to secure our Nation from the many threats we face.
This committee continues to play a critical role in helping the Department in our security mission, and I am grateful for the chance to update you on the progress we are making. The Department has six mission areas:
Self Check is a voluntary, fast, free and simple service that allows you to check your employment eligibility in the United States. If any mismatches are found between the information you provide and your Department of Homeland Security or Social Security Administration records, Self Check will inform you of how to correct those mismatches.
Self Check is a service of E-Verify. Once you have confirmed your employment eligibility using Self Check, you are unlikely to encounter difficulties upon being hired by an E-Verify participating employer.
We won a National Interest Waiver case for a Molecular Biologist holding a Ph.D. having over ten years of research experience. We argued that her qualifications were unique as compared to others in the field and that she was noted as one of the few in her field that has achieved the highest level of success. She had remarkable contributions to the field, most notably her significant discoveries in cardiovascular research. This applicant had an extensive publication list as well as a book chapter.
We won an Outstanding Researcher case for a Research Associate Ph.D. in Instrumentation and Master of Science in Materials Science with over 13 years experience. We argued that with his extensive list of achievements, i.e. 11 refereed journal articles, 7 manuscripts currently under review, 11 publications in conference proceedings, peer reviewing of manuscripts and selection as a doctoral fellow at a world-renowned institute, he more than qualified for the category. This applicant's work was funded and supported by NASA.
We won an Alien of Extraordinary Ability case for a Ph.D. in physics. This applicant had over 13 years of research experience, 30 refereed journal articles, 12 Invited presentations at conferences and meetings, 2 refereed conference publications, peer reviewing of manuscripts for prestigious international journals, employment at several world-renowned institutes and was elected to membership in Sigma Xi, the Scientific Research Society. Clearly, this applicant stood out among his peers as one of the few who has reached the highest level of success in his field.
We won a National Interest Waiver case for an applicant holding an M.D., Ph.D. and MSE in Biomedical Engineering, and a B.Tech. in Electrical Engineering. This applicant had an extraordinary background. His degrees were received from the most prestigious institutes in the world, notably Harvard, MIT and Johns Hopkins University . His pioneering work has lead others in the field to a better understanding of what causes sudden cardiac death through fatal arrhythmias. His work was quoted as "revolutionizing health care."