Harold Ekeh, a high school senior in New York, was born in Nigeria and came to the United States when he was eight years old. He wrote his main college essay about the struggle to adjust to a new country and highlighted how he frequently questioned his parents about why they moved from Africa. Despite his struggles to acculturate after immigrating, Ekeh was recently accepted to all eight of the Ivy League Schools in the United States, with several of them offering him merit-based scholarships to attend. Last year, another high-school senior from New York State, Kwasi Enin, coming from an immigrant family from Ghana, was also accepted into all eight Ivy League universities. Both youngsters have their eyes set on a career in the sciences and/or medical fields. No doubt their accomplishments thus far have demonstrated that they will be leaders in their chosen careers and will likely make important academic, clinical, and/or research contributions to the United States. As a small example, Ekeh was recently named a 2015 Science Talent Search semifinalist for his research on how Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) can slow the progression of Alzheimer’s disease. At the young age of 17, his research has already contributed to our understanding of the Neurobiology of Aging.
No doubt these two stories should help to dispel the prejudice and ignorant mythologies that falsely suggest that immigrants are low-skilled laborers. In fact, data suggests that most immigrants are “makers” and not “takers” contributing both to the economy and to the fields of science, business, the arts, and technology. Noteworthy is the fact that more than a third of American Nobel laureates in the Sciences over the last 15 years came to the United States as immigrants. These Scientists are conducting research with extraordinary promise for improving lives, as well as great potential to produce commercialized treatments and technologies that drive U.S. innovation and economic growth.
During our 20-year history working exclusively in the field of Immigration Law, the Shulman Law Group, LLC has taken great pride in helping families and children who came to the United States at a young age to avail themselves of academic and professional opportunities to channel their unique skills and intelligence into productive careers. Many of the clients whom we have helped to legalize their status in the United States have gone on to become scholars, professors, scientists, physicians, and biotechnology innovators. If you are an immigrant family or an individual who came to the United States as a child, we are poised to assist you in adjusting your immigration status in order to maximize your potential to lead a meaningful and productive life in the United States.