EB1-EA RFE, help please!!!

W

winter2002

Registered Users (C)
Hi all,

I am working(postdoct) in a research institute in the field of biochemistry. I applied I-140 in EB1-EA this May and got RFE this week. In my petition,I checked out 6 of 10:

1. awards
I have three awards from universities and two patents in my own country.

2. membership
two memberships (ACS and MGMS)

3. citations
57 from 15~20 contries.

4. judge
some national grants review in my own country.

5. original contributions
addressed them based on my research work, publications and by all reference letters.

6. papers
more than 20 journal papers and 8 conference papers (mostly 1st author and ~10 of them published in good international journals (Biochemistry, JACS, etc.)

INS didn't question 4 and 6 but seems to say 1 and 2 are too weak to be accounted. They also asked for more evidence for 3 and 5. I have provided citation search results and some citation papers but they still want to know more details for establising the significance of these citations. I should be able to provide INS the details. For original contributions, they wanted more evidence for the originality and significance.

I don't know which is better:
1. reply all 6 or just focus "citation" and "original contribution" (INS allowed me to choose);
2. reply the RFE or drop it and reapply later if many people think my chance for the approval is low;

I have 8 referece letters from famous professors, department directors, Ph.D. and postdoctoral advisors. Should I submit more reference letters
for the RFE?

Any tip and suggestion, PLEASE!!! Thank you very much!
 
which center

Which center are you applying? You background is strong, maybe you didn't present it well.
 
Re: Which center

CSC.

Yes, it is a possible reason. But I also wonder if there was some negative effect for mentioning local awards and memberships. Would you please tell me if patents belong to award or publication?

Thanks,
 
Re: Re: Which center

Originally posted by winter2002
CSC.

Yes, it is a possible reason. But I also wonder if there was some negative effect for mentioning local awards and memberships. Would you please tell me if patents belong to award or publication?

Thanks,
Click to expand...

I too am a member of the ACS. It didn't affect me in a negative way.

Did you mention that membership into ACS requires two nominations? I included a copy of the ACS membership requirements with my petition and had somebody mention that in one of my letters. Since I did not have any RFE's, I don't know how the INS evaluated that particular criterium. All positive evidence helps.

Brian
 
to Brian

Hi Brian,

Thank you very much for your valuable information. I did receive a letter from ACS that mentioned I got two nominations and then I joined ACS. But it was in 1998 and unfortunately I thrown away the letter (I don’t know EB1 then at all!). In addition to providing evidence for membership requirements, INS also requires evidence about the number of current members and my rank in ACS. For the biggest association in the world, how can I know my rank in it?

For awards, INS’s question is my awards are local not national/international. If patents may be regarded as awards, I would have a chance to argue this issue.
 
Re: to Brian

Originally posted by winter2002
Hi Brian,

Thank you very much for your valuable information. I did receive a letter from ACS that mentioned I got two nominations and then I joined ACS. But it was in 1998 and unfortunately I thrown away the letter (I don’t know EB1 then at all!). In addition to providing evidence for membership requirements, INS also requires evidence about the number of current members and my rank in ACS. For the biggest association in the world, how can I know my rank in it?

For awards, INS’s question is my awards are local not national/international. If patents may be regarded as awards, I would have a chance to argue this issue.
Click to expand...


I doubt patents are awards. Anybody paying the patent fees can get one. The key is to have letters stating why the patent is important. Some legal consultation may be worth the money.

Brian
 
Re: Re: to Brian

You can focus on your citations and original contributions.

57 is a very large number that can make this category very strong. You need to submit 10-15 such papers that cite your contributions and highlight them.
 
winter

if you are or were enrolled in any competetive position ie hard to get "post-doctoral fellowship" that should be considered as something AWARDED to you. You can have that mentioned on a ref letter or say on the cover letter -also if there is selection criteria available from the post-doc institute or the web ie how many people applied and the pool of highly qualified people that you were selected from, should help. Your citations actually look reasonably strong - so I was wondering why that was considered week. I can send you some citation info if you post your email.
Definitely reply to the RFE - now we do hear fair amount of cases that are approved after RFE.
Is'nt there an ACS website which provides the members selection criteria etc - which mentions that you need to be nominated by others? You can always submit a general guideline printed off the web OR you can have ACS fax you a letter saying that members are nominated by two etc? Ofcourse along with proof of your membership.
Hope things work out well for you. Do'nt give up easily - its tough to keep your morale up and get things together - but you got to put in more than your fair share of effort into these things.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Thanks

rdip, eb1Cat, and leroythelion,

Thanks a lot for your tips, suggestions and encouragement. When I got RFE from
INS, I felt so hopeless. This is why I registered with "winter2002'. Although I have still to struggle for long I-140/I-485 journey as many people has experienced, I won't give up.

rdip:
Please send me some citation info. My email is wintao2002@yahoo.com. Thanks.

winter
 
Re: winter

Originally posted by rdip
Is'nt there an ACS website which provides the members selection criteria etc - which mentions that you need to be nominated by others? You can always submit a general guideline printed off the web OR you can have ACS fax you a letter saying that members are nominated by two etc? Ofcourse along with proof of your membership.
Click to expand...

Yes. I had downloaded the by-laws from their website for my own petition: www.acs.org. The by-laws stae quite clearly that two nominations are required. I had also included a copy of the membership forms.

Brian
 
Re: Thanks

Originally posted by winter2002
rdip, eb1Cat, and leroythelion,

Thanks a lot for your tips, suggestions and encouragement. When I got RFE from
INS, I felt so hopeless. This is why I registered with "winter2002'. Although I have still to struggle for long I-140/I-485 journey as many people has experienced, I won't give up.

rdip:
Please send me some citation info. My email is wintao2002@yahoo.com. Thanks.

winter
Click to expand...

Good luck, Winter.

For citations, I included a copy of every paper that cited me (that I could obtain), regardless of language. It was about 40 papers. While I never published in JACS (Journal of the American Chemical Society) I had one of my referees mention that my work was cited in JACS and that it was chemistry's most prestiguous journal. The whole startegy was planned out in advance.

Brian
 
Re: brian

Hi brian,

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Yes. I had downloaded the by-laws from their website for my own petition: www.acs.org. The by-laws stae quite clearly that two nominations are
required. I had also included a copy of the membership forms.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I can't find the by-laws from www.acs.org and links from there(like join ACS, application form, etc.). Would you give tips to find it? Your help are very appriciated.

winter
 
Re: Re: brian

Originally posted by winter2002
Hi brian,

I can't find the by-laws from www.acs.org and links from there(like join ACS, application form, etc.). Would you give tips to find it? Your help are very appriciated.

winter
Click to expand...

A quick search revealed nothing for me, too. It was on the site when I had put my petition together (2 years ago). Contact them directly. Applications for membership appear frequently in Chemical & Engineering News. I also get them whenever I am asked to nominate somebody.

Brian
 
I found another ACS letter!!!

Hi,

Thanks for your reminding about ACS letter. I did lost one in 1998. But I can't remeber if I got another late. Since yesterday, I have been looking for that possible letter. Just few minutes ago, I found it!!! This letter did mentioned that ACS invite me to join ACS with nomination (I moved from my country to USA 2ys ago, and discontinued ACS membership for a short period, and rejoined using my old ACS ID#). It should be very helpful for replying my membership quetion and strenthening my case.

All helps from this forum are deeply appreciated!!

winter
 
to rdip

I got it and thank you very much!!!


to all,

Some journal statements, like "The Journal of Physical Chemistry is devoted to reporting new and original experimental and theoretical basic research of interest to physical chemists and chemical physicists", could be my new evidence for originality?

winter --- waiting for spring.
 
Originally posted by winter2002
to all,

Some journal statements, like "The Journal of Physical Chemistry is devoted to reporting new and original experimental and theoretical basic research of interest to physical chemists and chemical physicists", could be my new evidence for originality?

winter --- waiting for spring.
Click to expand...

Absolutely. I seem to remember including the "mission statement", if you will, of all the journals I had publications in. Ususally, the first edition of the year will contain some sort of statement from the journal, including criteria for publication. It is obvious to all of us that only original work gets published in these journals, especially in an top notch ACS journal like J. Phys. Chem. Once again, these facts were included in my reference letters.

I don't mean to sound preachy, but the petition must cover all bases. Don't assume that the INS reviewer knows that journals only publish original material. He could be reviewing 10 of these a day and *know* that they do, but if you don't *tell* him, he cannot assume that it is so. These petitions are legal documents and must be evaluated on their own merit.

Answer this RFE very carefully. I would suggest a few more letters to cover all the new requests for evidence.

Brian
 
Hi Brian,

Now I understand why INS still asked evidence for the originality when I have ~70% pages (7~8) in my cover letter to address my original researches and their significance in the field and some reference letters mentioned “this is the first time ….”. As you said, I just think INS reviewer knows only original and significant work can be published in high level journals and didn’t emphasize in your way and include these facts (mission statements). Also no reference letter included these facts and gave special stress on journals like JACS but only mentioned in general words like “prestigious professional journals”. Actually, I have three JACS papers and more citations from papers in JACS. I should have high chance to get through if I had presented myself well. Your suggestions are extremely helpful for my reply to INS. Thank you so much.

winter
 
Originally posted by winter2002
Hi Brian,

Actually, I have three JACS papers and more citations from papers in JACS. I should have high chance to get through if I had presented myself well. Your suggestions are extremely helpful for my reply to INS. Thank you so much.

winter
Click to expand...

Were you first author in these? Three publications in JACS is a career for most people. When Allan Bard was editor of JACS, he gave a talk at the university where I was a grad student. All the professors were lined up in the front row with knee pads on, hoping to get a slight edge in getting published there. These are the kinds of facts that the INS might want to see.

Brian
 
Re: Brian,

Were you first author in these? Three publications in JACS is a career for most people.
Click to expand...

1st author for two of them. But I only showed INS a journal ranking with JACS in the top group but not the top in the field I searched. Wish INS knew JACS. But maybe there are many EB1 petitioners who have Nature/Science papers and then INS looks down on JACS.

winter
 
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