Discuss UkrGal's I-140 USCIS Case

Wow, this was fast. Big congrats, enjoy it!

Thanks wwweb2niwcom! I am so excited now, can't do work :-) All efforts on the I-485 now, plan to submit by the end of March. Please don;t hesitate to let me know if I can be of help, and good luck to you too!

:)) I can imagine how happy you must be. Thanks for offer to help and good luck with your final step!

to ukrgal

very impressive. congrats.
when you say, you used 'USCIS rejection letters as a reference' are you referring to the one available freely online?

i used a attorneys service and unsuccesfully filed eb2 niw in 2011. i am a physician by profession and i am now considering self petitioning.
would you share which diy kit you used?

To GreenMD: I used the ones freely available online. By the way, I have seen at least two NIW rejections by MDs. If you search something like: "public copy" "national interest waiver" USCIS , you will find a lot of OAA NIW cases. Most denied on appeal, but some approved. I found them very useful.
I used the DIY kit called "green card for PhD", and I would recommend it. This being said, it is only designed to give a general idea on how to petition for NIW. One has to be able to get the logic and apply it to your particular case. Do you have your previous unsuccessful NIW submission? If so, I don't believe you will benefit from any DIY kit. Do you have their critique of your case? Can you meaningfully address them? if you want to share, I can be more specific.

to GreenMD: I know there is something called a waiver for physicians in the underserved areas. I don't know much about it, but have you considered? I am under the impression it may be easier to get approved...

GreenMD:

I have links to these USCIS / AAO cases with some brief notes (like occupation etc.) in my articles about NIW requirements:

http://www.eb2niw.com/national-interest-waiver-requirements/1-niw-requirement-substantial-intrinsic-merit

http://www.eb2niw.com/national-interest-waiver-requirements/2-niw-requirement-national-in-scope

Look at paragraph "Practical examples"

to ukrgal

Thanks for sharing.

to GreenMD: you are welcome. Glad if I could help. You may email me if you have further questions. Let's see here.... Hmmmm, I don't see any PM feature. Well, here's my email: [email protected] , if they don't block it. If you email me, put something informative in the subject so I could distinguish it from spam...

to ukrgal

Thanks. I have emailed you on the yahoo account

Hi,

I will be very grateful of you people if you can see my credentials and tell me about my chances for NIW. I am applying without the help of lawyer.

Summary of My Current Credentials

I am PhD and currently doing PostDoc in US university.

Publications
Research articles
- 7 research articles (5 first author, 2 second author research publications).
- Impact factor for first author research publications (3.5 + 3.5 + 3.5 + 2 + 2 + 2 + 1)
- Impact factor for second author research publications (4 + 3.5)

Review papers
- 2 review papers (both are first author).
- Impact factor for reviews (3 + 0)

Conference abstracts
- 18 conference abstracts (14 first author, 4 co-author abstracts)

Independent citations
- 85 total independent citations (15 of these are not in English) (out of which around 55 for my research articles and 30 for my review publications).
- 3 News about my work (all from NewsRX, do not know about credibility of this newspaper).

Awards

- 2 Travel award from international non-profit organizations (competitive in nature)

Judgment of other work
- I have never reviewed any manuscript for any journal (Is it important fort NIW application?)

Honorary memberships
- No honorary memberships

Recommendation letters
- I think I can get 7 independent recommendation letters.


May you kindly reply these question too.

- I have never reviewed any manuscript for any journal. Should I review few before applying or my application is strong at the moment for NIW?
- I have few years of research and teaching experience but it would be very difficult for me to provide all experience letters from previous employer. Do I need experience letter for my NIW application?
- Do you think I should wait and apply after my citation cross 100, or current 85 is Ok for applying now.
- 30 out of 85 total citations are from my reviews. Will citations from review papers help?
_ Citation in non-English language p

Hi guidemeniw,

I have prepared NIW case for my husband with quite similar credentials and he was recently approved.

At that time he was also postdoc at US university and had slightly worse "numbers" than you (less first author papers, no reviews, only review of non significant summer school papers, less citations, 1 award from conference for young postdocs, no judgment of the work, no membership etc.). I was afraid this is not enough so I build the case on much stronger arguments than just these numbers and let them confirm by our recommenders. For example my husband's job task is very unique and completing this task is crucial for reaching US national goals, it cannot be done without him and that's why national interest would be negatively affected if they don't grant him green card. I also think that only numbers itself don't prove NIW requirements so that is why I wasn't focused on number of publications or citations etc. It is much more important to prove that national interest would be negatively affected... etc.

If you want to know more details about our case here it is: http://www.eb2niw.com/credentials-cases/our-eb2-niw-case-approved-2013

You can find more general tips on that website which can be valuable when preparing your case without a lawyer, hope it helps...

Hi guidemeniw,

what is your area of research? Is it in the national interest? Any area of research can be said to be "in the national interest", but some may require additional work to convince the IO (for example, theoretical physics vs cancer research).

Other than that, citations are fine, review paper citations count just like any other citations. My highest cited paper was a review with about 20 citations when I applied and there was no issue. Start preparing the documents, it will probably take you a couple of months at least, your citations may jump to 100. Even if they don't submit as is (dont worry about it). If you want the international citations count, you have to provide certified translations of those articles (at least their abstracts). I had 15 citations not in English but I had 165 total (130 excluding self citations) so I didnt worry about those 15. It is kind of up to you, if you feel non-English citations will boost your approval rates, go for it. Independent translations are easy to get these days.

I haven't reviewed for any journal either, but I had a letter from a Journal Editor saying to me personally that my expertise is valuable and unique, and if I agree to be added to the pool of reviewers. So I added that (not sure if it helped). Don't worry about not reviewing, it is a criteria for EB1 but not for a NIW.

You don't generally need experience letters, but they may help, depending on what they say. If they simply say, he can do this and that, it is of no use. However, if they say, he can do this and that's how it helps national interest, that's valuable. Make sure whoever signs the letter is qualified to speak about the national interest (governmental official, a "big name" in the field etc).

7 independent reco letters is plenty, I only had 4. make sure those are letters from credible people with verifiable achievement in the field and that they say specifically why your work is in the national interest. Non-specific praise

It truncated my comment so I continue. Non-specific praise (such as he's a bright scientist blah-blah) is of little use.

I hope this helps. If you have additional questions and think I could help, please don't hesitate to let me know. Good luck to you!

My area of research is neurodegenerative diseases, can easily be proven as national interest. Your suggestions about citations, manuscript review and rec letters are very helpful. I am very glad that you are helping me. Have you used DIY kit? There are many available, may you recommend which one I should buy?

Yeah, your research area is very good. Make sure to print out the pages from the NIH website stating the magnitude of the problem and how important it is to fix. That's what I did for my area (cancer health disparities). That way, you dont even have to really say anything about the national interest and scope, NIH has already done that for you ;-)

Yes, I have used the DIY kit and I found it very useful. as a general guidance. I dont know if I could have done it without the kit. I used the one from "green card for phd". With that said, it is only useful as a general guidance (as any kit out there, really) to show you how to write, organize the petition, what to include etc. You must be able to get the logic behind building the petition and apply it to your specific case, ie you cannot use the kit as an all-inclusive personalized guide. I also found that it has some redundant and unnecessary information which I corrected in my petition, but overall, it helped me tremendously. I haven't seen or used any other kits so I can't compare. But I would recommend this one, as it helped me.

Thanks UkrGal,

I am very thankful of your suggestion regarding NIH website. It would be good to mention epidemiology and need of new drugs. More specifically I am working to develop new methods to discover new drugs for these disorders and testing new compounds too, therefore, it is easy for me to show national interest and future need.

Thank also for mentioning name of this kit, I will buy it.

May you kindly help. I will be very thankful if you can give me some idea about my chances of EB2-NIW

I have 8 publication (6 first author, 2 second author).
I have received 90 independent citations.
No outstanding membership
Never reviewed manuscripts for any journal
No significant awards
I can prove that my field of research is national in scope,

Can I be accepted with publications and citations only?

Thanks in advance for your support.

selfapplniw,

"Can I be accepted with publications and citations only?" There is really no requirement asking some minimal number of publications or citations. I have seen a case approved with literally zero citations and zero publications. And opposite - the case with 100 hundreds publications that wasn't approved. Why? Bad presentation of the case - didn't prove 3. NIW requirement.

"I can prove that my field of research is national in scope" Well, this is required but it is really the easiest part of NIW (Every postdoc and most PhD students are able to prove 1. and 2. NIW requirement, it is easy). I am sure the most difficult is 3. NIW requirement - think how you can prove that you are better than average peer in your field, that you are critical person in your research and the job cannot be done without you, that you impacted the field as a whole (yes, significant number of citations can help here, but it is not required, there are plenty of other ways how to prove this) etc. Only number of publications and citations as ALONE standing fact doesn't prove any of above. It must be properly explained...

Thanks for you detailed response and I highly appreciate that you took out time for me.

I am planning to review few manuscript for journal before applying. May you kindly tell me if you have reviewed papers for journal. Should these journal be of good standing. Do I have to attach the profile, ranking, circulation or impact factor of journals for which I will be reviewer.

Hi Ukrgal,

I think you can help me with these questions.

I am on J visa planning to apply for I-140 and later I-485. I discussed with lawyer about risk of applying on J visa, 2 said no big risk and one said about it is a little risk. I am a little bit confused from lawyer statements because they can say no big risk as I can hire them for my I-140 and I-485 application so it may become issue of money. They all said my credentials is very strong for NIW application so I did not have confusion about it.

My details are

- I arrived in USA and started to work in university with J visa 6 months ago.
- My J visa and DS-2019 will expire in June 2015. My DS-2019 can further be extended possibly for one year or two year more, dependent on grant of my advisor.
- After expiry of current J status, H status is not suitable for me because my wife cannot work, so it is not desirable long term option.

- My questions are

- if I apply for I-140 and later for I-485 with J visa status. Will it be legal? Because it is non immigrant visa?

- In how many % of cases I-485 is rejected? Because if it is rejected I will not have any status and have to leave USA?

- Is it really a big risk to apply with J visa?

Thanks

I have never been on J visa so I am only sharing my general knowledge. Does your J visa have a 2-year grace period in your home land or whatever it's called? Certain government funded programs have this 2-year bar (such as Fulbright). If you do have this bar, things could get real complicated. Better consult a very good immigration attorney before filing I-485. However, this has no bearing on your I-140. You can still file I-140-NIW even with the bar and get it approved. Just file non-concurrently (don't file the 485).

If you do NOT have the 2-year bar, you should be 100% clear to apply anything you want.

Hope this was helpful. And keep in mund what I said in the 1st sentence.

Also keep in mind that if you apply for I-485 (and it is rejected for whatever reason), you won't be able to apply for visas with "non-immigrant intent" (including the J visa and a visitor visa). So you will not be able to extend your J-visa. However, you can still apply for H-visa since it is a "dual intent" visa. It is not affected by your immigration intentions.

Thanks UkrGAl,

No, I do not have 2 year home residency requirement. Yes I will file non-concurrently.

One more question.

There is one option to be on more safe side, is to apply for H status before applying for I-485. May you tell me if H status spouse can do PhD and get stipend or Postdoc and get univ salary.

Thanks

I think your spouse will have to apply for her own F-1 visa in order to study on a PhD program and receive a stipend. However, as soon as you file I-485 on her behalf, she won't be eligible for F-1 anymore. I don't see a problem in applying I485 while on J visa, as long as there is no home residency requirement. Of course if I485 is rejected, you are out of status (I think with J-status it will be that way), but if your I-140 is approved, and you are not a criminal or an immigration violator, you should be fine.

If I were you, I would have probably stayed on the J visa and applied I-140-NIW non-concurrently. And when you have it approved, you can worry about the I485. Your case does not seem that complicated (given you don't have immigration violations etc and etc), and hence you should be able to resolve it without a problem.

UkrGal

Thanks for your suggestion.

You are right, I should concentrate on I-140 and after its approval I should think for I-485. I will apply non-concurrently. I was just worried applying for immigration on non-immigrant J visa but it is clear that it is legal. I have never done any violation therefore for this reason at least I will not be rejected.

Thanks for your answer

Hi,

I think you can help me with this questions.

As you know abstracts of conferences sometimes published in Journals. May I include these in my number of publications.

My several abstracts were accepted for presentations of conferences. But I did not attend all of these. However my abstracts are in the program, still available from conference website. May I include these too in abstracts list?

What is your idea or opinion and what you did about it?

Thanks

Hi Guidemeniw:

1. May I include these in my number of publications.
- Yes. However, the most important question is - were they cited, and if you can provide proof of citations (google scholar etc). In addition to citations, you may use those abstracts to prove the national significance of your work (if the conferences were of the national significance).

2. May I include these too in abstracts list?
- Yes. There is virtually no way to determine if you attended the conferences or not, and I don't think it matters. Don't forget to include official print outs from the conference websites.