hi OpinionSeeker and LUD
Will try to answer both: I had originally filed EB1-EA and NIW through an attorney in 2006. The NIW got approved but Eb1 was denied. The attorney did a good job but NSC was very tough on my Eb1- they sent a 4 page RFE basically refuting everything i said.
So, i waited a while and was getting ready to re-apply Eb1-EA via my attorney but suddenly on June 22, i noticed that USCIS was starting premium processing effective June 29. I figured this opportunity to get a decision in 15 days wont last long - my previous Eb1 took 19 months to eventually get a denial. I figure that if uscis gets swamped, then they may well stop premium processing and so, i hurried and put together a package in a week - i basically re-submitted my old RFE response (in fact, i didnt even get new letters, i used the old letters, and simply changed the dates on them with permission from the concerned people). I didnt use the attorney this time because he takes abt a month to even write a memo...so i took my chances and did it all on my own. The lawyer wanted $1000 - instead of paying him, i paid it towards premium processing - and the gamble worked out!
As for qualifications:
I have about 40 papers (20 journal), a text-book as first author with Springer UK, have about 100 citations, reviewed abt 35 papers, reviewer for 7 journals on a regular basis, got letters from journal editors, my work has appeared in some trade magazines, no major awards or elite memberships, work for a govt research lab, US MS/PhD - not a ranked university.
Hope that helps.
