kku said:
Nerf,
If you happen to visit this website again, could you give us any tips for success in EB1-OR case.
Tx
KKU
I certainly would like to, as other nice guys in this forum did here: they chose to provide their opinions to others and that can be very helpful. But the problem is, given the enormous variance in NSC's handling of different EB1 cases (as we have seen here), it is hard to provide any panacea that saves everybody.
Since I lucked out anyway, I will try to provide my experience to all other petitioners here and hope it helps:
First you MUST read the I-140 EB1-OR criteria really really well. When I first went into this, I did not really know what constitutes a sound evidence for the case. For example, you MUST be able to tell the difference between
(1) a publication, and (2) a publication indicating you are outstanding researcher with international recognition
To achieve this, I suggest you read the article of "Current Trends In EB-1-2 Outstanding Researcher Cases". One version of it is available at
http://www.millermayer.com/new/eb1_2.html. That article is suggested by many other people in this forum. The article handles the most difficult cases--those who go to AAO, where the criteria are most accurately and strictly evaluated. The discussion is accurate.
If you think you can survive from the discussion in the above article, congratulations. I think you are truly outstanding and deserve a quick approval. And you do not have to read what follows. The principle behind this is that: a truly outstanding researcher should be able to collect and present AMPLE/OVERWELMING amount of evidences to USCIS in minutes. If you can do that, NSC will embrace you for sure. Yes they are naughty and harsh, but I think their behavior is CONSISTENT, even though it is consistently harsh.
By the way, I consulted two of the authors personally for suggestions on RFE. I think they are good (although I do not take the responsibility to recommend them to anyone).
The next big thing is luck: you must hope that the NSC guy has a good day when he/she touches your case. Seriously. This does not mean that he will approve your case immediately, but that he will spend some time on it and (perhaps) say to himself: hmm, this guy deserves a second chance, and I SHALL GIVE HIM SOME CLUE. Then beside the generic rfe he gives, he will detailize on the ones that he thinks will help you most. This happened to me fortunately. A couple of sentences behind each generic criterion should give you plenty of clues to work on.
Based on the RFE, you MUST find out what exactly USCIS wants. For example in my case, the RFE has 8 or 9 comments on how the evidences should be. Only then can you construct your response.
Please understand that, the RFE response is NOT a supplement on your initial petition. It is almost an entirely new petition, just that USCIS has given you somes clues about what they think are qualified evidences. Unfortunately at this time, you probably have already exhausted all your resource: all references are used in initial petition but their comments are ignored, and it is embarrassing to ask them again to yet another damn reference letter. But you have got to move on and be aggressive and get more references with the same quality letters. You will probably end up spending the same amount of time on RFE response than on your petition letter, maybe a little less. You are more familiar with everything but your workload is pretty much the same. IT IS A NEW PETITION.
On my impression on NSC: as I said before, they are consistently bad, but they seem to be consistent. For example, when I read the 8 or 9 additional evidences they listed in RFE, I did go back into every letter in initial petition trying to find them. They were simply not there. I did not feed USCIS what they want, and a RFE is the only choice for me.
Finally I have to repeat that there is big variance in NSC processing, despite all that I said above. Your case may be a very strong one, but it simply does not go well. You may have a marginal case as I do, and you luck out. On the random nature of NSC, nothing can be done.
