advantages/ disadvantages to premium processing?

eb1applicant

Registered Users (C)
I am applying under the EB1-extraordinary ability category, for which premium processing is now an option. I know that the advantage is a 15 day decision. However, if I get a RFE under PP is there a limited time in which they will clear that also?

Also, is there any specific disadvantage to applying through premium processing for this category that anyone knows of? My lawyer has left the decision to me.
 
well every offcier has to go thru 40 applications a day, they only diference btw PP and regular is that he is going to see your application next week instead of 9 months from now. I dont think there any disadvantage but some people here might disagree.
 
Personally, I prefer PP, it is fast and bindng on USCIS that they should give you an answer in 15 days, either yes or REF initially (they need to answer your RFE also in 15 days) or NO later. Each one is a possibility. One should expect this and be ready with your guns or alternate path, specially EB1-EA or OR, they are very subjective calls.
Administrative angle: When PP is an option, regular non PP applications will suffer, no one can do anything about that, USCIS claims that regular applications will not suffer, but I am not going to buy that. We have seen in numerous situations, that has been the protocol. Yah! I can understand things can improve, but insitutions like USCIS, it is very difficult as it is not only understaffed but over populated by GC applications.
If you want an advice, if 1000$ is tight, just forget about PP, apply regular, and dont come to this forum for about 6 to 8 months.
If you think 1000$ will buy you peace of mind, you are right to a certain extent, you will know the answer in 15 days, but you will be fixed to this site, it will become an addiction. But aleast you will know what happend in your first step I140.
good luck
Rama
 
Here are my $0.02 about PP:

Since 140 doesn't have any major impact on 485 (and thus your GC), filing PP makes sense if you are close to or over 6 years of H so that a 140 approval can buy you 3 years on H AND are fully prepared for an RFE response. Again, since 140 approval doesn't really affect 485 processing time, you can leverage the lag (say 9 months) to work on the relatively weak areas of your application for an RFE response. At least that's what I'm doing. I've filed 140 and 485 concurrently and I'm working on publications, conferences etc. so that in case of an RFE, I can give them some extra stuff. Saving $1000K on a relatively uncertain process is another advantage, however small.

GG_007
 
go_getter007 said:
Here are my $0.02 about PP:

Since 140 doesn't have any major impact on 485 (and thus your GC), filing PP makes sense if you are close to or over 6 years of H so that a 140 approval can buy you 3 years on H AND are fully prepared for an RFE response. Again, since 140 approval doesn't really affect 485 processing time, you can leverage the lag (say 9 months) to work on the relatively weak areas of your application for an RFE response. At least that's what I'm doing. I've filed 140 and 485 concurrently and I'm working on publications, conferences etc. so that in case of an RFE, I can give them some extra stuff. Saving $1000K on a relatively uncertain process is another advantage, however small.

GG_007

Achievements after submission of your petition has no use!! USCIS only consider your achievements what you already achieved.

My opinion : PP is better. Save 9 months of your life than $1000
 
Pana, in theory what you're saying could be true. However, in reality, a friend got his EB-1 OR approved and he had worked on papers, conferences etc. after his original submission. In my case, my firm is sponsoring all the expenses so it's not about $1K but I'm assessing the true value of PP for me. I'll confirm with my attorney that achievements after the application is originally submitted are not a waste for USCIS.

Cheers,
GG_007
 
My understanding for consideration of evidence.
You can submit as much of an evidence as you please, when your application is under process, during the process you can accumulate evidence, in case you get your RFE, you can submit the accumulated evidence.
But once the decision is made, and if it is negative, for apple, you can only argue about the evidence you had already submitted, but CAN NOT add any new evidence, i.e the evidence that is not available to USCIS at the time when the decision was made.
This is my understanding, is this right? at least seems logical to me.
Rama
 
Okay folks. I just confirmed with my attorney. It DOES count. I mean, even after your original submission, you can continue doing your usual good stuff and in case of an RFE, you can submit it.

GG_007
 
If you look at the appeals decisions posted on the USCIS website, you'll often see comments like this:

"On appeal, counsel submits an additional article from the July 2002 issue of ....This article was published four months after the filing of the petition. Consequently, it cannot be used to establish the petitioner's eligibility at the time of filing."


Of course you can submit new things, but they cannot actually be considered.
 
This is interesting. Was the quote taken from an appeal (that had been already denied in all probability) or an RFE response? What's your take? My attorney categorically said that for an RFE response, additional things would be considered.

GG_007



WaryOR said:
If you look at the appeals decisions posted on the USCIS website, you'll often see comments like this:

"On appeal, counsel submits an additional article from the July 2002 issue of ....This article was published four months after the filing of the petition. Consequently, it cannot be used to establish the petitioner's eligibility at the time of filing."


Of course you can submit new things, but they cannot actually be considered.
 
It was from an appeal, not an RFE. Maybe the issue is this: you can certainly submit new letters describing your achievements, and new evidence in support of the previously submitted stuff. But the law seems pretty clear (the case they always cite is Matter of Katigbak) that you are arguing that you met the criteria on the day you applied (otherwise, you wouldn't have applied).

Our lawyer has advised some of my colleagues to take a year or so to get more pubs, cites, invitations to review etc. before applying, because once the package is sent, you can't add new stuff to it.

Interesting!


Edit to add:
Just found this as well, from the Farrell et al paper on trends in )OR cases:

See Matter of [name not provided], File No. [not provided] (AAO Oct. 23, 2003) (abstract published after petition submitted cannot be added as additional evidence to satisfy RFE). See also Matter of Katigbak, 14 I. & N. Dec. 45, 49 (INS Reg. Comm’r 1971) (education or experience acquired after the filing date of an immigrant visa petition may not be considered, since to do so would result in according the beneficiary a priority date for visa issuance at a time when not qualified for the preference status sought).
 
Last edited by a moderator:
WaryOR said:
Our lawyer has advised some of my colleagues to take a year or so to get more pubs, cites, invitations to review etc. before applying, because once the package is sent, you can't add new stuff to it.

My lawyer also suggests same !!

In EB-1EA, luck is a big factor here.. 1 st we have to be lucky enough (or know some tricks) so that your file goes to TSC, which is known to be little bit liberal and faster than NSC... 2 nd it should be reviewed by some whole-hearted guy … some time I feel, as there is NO particular guidelines to judge a person by his achievement, even though we fully satisfied 3 category or more, it’s not a difficult job to find out some thing to show we don’t qualify. They can do what ever they wants.. So in my opinion Green Card dream should not effect our life.. It’s better that it should get over with some decision as soon as possible. We should not waste our precious time, as we all are budding and not in a position to enjoy life being laid back when we have an option.

Am I wrong?
 
pana said:
My lawyer also suggests same !!

In EB-1EA, luck is a big factor here.. 1 st we have to be lucky enough (or know some tricks) so that your file goes to TSC, which is known to be little bit liberal and faster than NSC... 2 nd it should be reviewed by some whole-hearted guy … some time I feel, as there is NO particular guidelines to judge a person by his achievement, even though we fully satisfied 3 category or more, it’s not a difficult job to find out some thing to show we don’t qualify. They can do what ever they wants.. So in my opinion Green Card dream should not effect our life.. It’s better that it should get over with some decision as soon as possible. We should not waste our precious time, as we all are budding and not in a position to enjoy life being laid back when we have an option.

Am I wrong?

Your right, my lawyer says that sometimes the officers go with their feeling about the case .AKA. Main - INTERNATIONAL RECOGNITION IS REQUIRED and general stuff like that, they can ALWAYS find something to cause a denial if they want to, this entire ordeal is very subjective.
 
You're absolutely right, Pana. GC (or anything for that matter) doesn't really matter beyond a point. Forget about the US, we don't have "permanent" residence anywhere in the world. :)

GG_007



pana said:
My lawyer also suggests same !!

In EB-1EA, luck is a big factor here.. 1 st we have to be lucky enough (or know some tricks) so that your file goes to TSC, which is known to be little bit liberal and faster than NSC... 2 nd it should be reviewed by some whole-hearted guy … some time I feel, as there is NO particular guidelines to judge a person by his achievement, even though we fully satisfied 3 category or more, it’s not a difficult job to find out some thing to show we don’t qualify. They can do what ever they wants.. So in my opinion Green Card dream should not effect our life.. It’s better that it should get over with some decision as soon as possible. We should not waste our precious time, as we all are budding and not in a position to enjoy life being laid back when we have an option.

Am I wrong?
 
Top