I-140 EB1-OR RFE --- Help Plz!

G

guyneedshelp

Registered Users (C)
First some background for my case:

I am a Research Associate(a sexier name for postdoc) at a university. Have been working in this position for more than 3 years. 30+ publications by the time I filed the I-140. More than half of them in PRL.

The I-140 was filed in December of 2005 to Vermont center. It was transfered to Nebraska center in May of 2006 and the nightmare starts. It was sitting there for the past 13 months. On 6/29/07, I paid the $1000 PP and on 7/2 got RFE. Here is the full text of the RFE:

The letter from the Department Chair indicates that the beneficiary is employed as a Postdoctoral Research Associate. The academic community itself hold postdoctoral appointments as being training assignments, precursors to full-fledged academic or research careers. White it is not impossible for an individual in such an assignment to have been made an offer of permanent employment, the burden remains on the petitioner to establish the facts about the employment, beginning with the actual job offer. The copy of the job offer you have submitted states that the appointment is contingent upon the continuation of funding in the form of grants. Addtional information is required.

How long has this project been funded? Contingent on funding year-to-year, what is the expected term of this project? Submit evidence demonstrating prior renewals for extended long-term research projects. Are the benefits attached to the beneficiary's position the same as those offered to tenured or tenure track positions? You must submit evidence that this is a permanent research position.

I have no idea what the referred 'letter from the Department Chair' is, and I have to ask the school lawyer what was submitted. But apart from that, what should I do next? Would a letter from the Department Chair explaining the nature of the project(this is a big group and has been in business forever and will continue to be so, by the way) be sufficient? What counts as 'evidence that this is a permanent research position'?

I did some research on this board, and I got the feeling that this case is more or less doomed...:( Any remedy to this?

By the way, that was the only thing(s) asked of me in the RFE.

Any advice/comments are highly appreciated.

---guyneedshelp, I mean, he really does. :)
 
Rfe

A) Try to post a similar request in "NIW and EB1" forum and NOT in I-140 issues forum. Check this link- you should get better response

http://boards.immigration.com/forumdisplay.php?f=44

B) You may not be "doomed" by this RFE but I think this is one of the clearest request I have seen. To qualify for EB1-OR, you should have a permanent position and that is a requirement. You are a postdoc and postdocs are not "permanent" positions. Additionally postdocs do not get same benefits like an Asst. prof. So, they are asking you to prove that you have a permanent position with FULL benefits like an Asst. Prof. You have to get a letter from your boss/Dept. Chair to show that you are not a temp. Given that it is written in the documents you submitted "continuation of your position depends on the continuation of grants" , you will have provide evidence that (i) how long is the grant for (ii) how many time it has been renewed before (iii) how many time it is going to be renewed etc. to prove to USCIS that yours is a permanent position (unlike a regular postdoc) as the grant is not a short time one.

You cannot claim that the group has been there for ever. The answer they want is "whether you can be there for ever working on the same project with benefits like Asst. prof".

That is what my opinion is. You should post your question to the main EB1 forum I mentioned earlier to get other additional response.

Also, make sure you put your other credentials as well. It usually helps

Good luck
 
hi guyneedhelp,

I think the most important thing is the letter should shows your employer have enough money to keep your position as long as you get your green card (~3years).Many people work as Postdoctoral Research Associate had got I-140 approval,you may ask some one of them you knew and/or more lawyers (not only school's),they should know some thicks to deal with this problem.

In addition, I have a question for you about my case:

My lawyer filed my I-140 application last week but I did not pay $1000 to speed up the process time.Could I apply I-140 premium now? If it is ok, could I submit it by myself? how to do that?

Thanks.

zxy166









Aroma_Kills said:
A) Try to post a similar request in "NIW and EB1" forum and NOT in I-140 issues forum. Check this link- you should get better response

http://boards.immigration.com/forumdisplay.php?f=44

B) You may not be "doomed" by this RFE but I think this is one of the clearest request I have seen. To qualify for EB1-OR, you should have a permanent position and that is a requirement. You are a postdoc and postdocs are not "permanent" positions. Additionally postdocs do not get same benefits like an Asst. prof. So, they are asking you to prove that you have a permanent position with FULL benefits like an Asst. Prof. You have to get a letter from your boss/Dept. Chair to show that you are not a temp. Given that it is written in the documents you submitted "continuation of your position depends on the continuation of grants" , you will have provide evidence that (i) how long is the grant for (ii) how many time it has been renewed before (iii) how many time it is going to be renewed etc. to prove to USCIS that yours is a permanent position (unlike a regular postdoc) as the grant is not a short time one.

You cannot claim that the group has been there for ever. The answer they want is "whether you can be there for ever working on the same project with benefits like Asst. prof".

That is what my opinion is. You should post your question to the main EB1 forum I mentioned earlier to get other additional response.

Also, make sure you put your other credentials as well. It usually helps

Good luck
Click to expand...
 
Hi,

Thank you both very much for the reply.

I checked with my lawyer, and she said the only letter bore the department chair's name was my original job offer. In which it states I am hired as Research Associate(i.e., did not mention the word postdoc).

I have re-posted it to the EB1 NIW forum. Thanks for the heads-up.

To answer zxy166's question. You can't submit the PP now because the USCIS just suspended all PP starting 7/1/07 for at least one month. But in general, you could submit your PP even after your I-140 was submitted at an earlier time. As for who should be doing the submission, I handed the check to my lawyer and she took care of it. It was done in this way because mine is an employment-base petition, so all the submittion has to be done by the petitioner(i.e., my school lawyer).

Hope that helps.

And thank you again for your input. I appreciate it very much.

---guyneedshelp...yes, he still does...
 
I140 PP filed in Texas - please give advice

Hi guys:

I have been a silent observer for a long time...now I decided to enlist help and need expert advice.

Here is my situation. I am currently on L1-A; my visa will expire 17 Nov 2007 (after spending 7 years). My company filed two I140:

a) EB1-C at NSC with RD Oct 7 2006
b) EB-3 Premium processing (company paid $1000) at TSC with RD Jun 6

In both cases, my company senior executives submitted very strong letter of recommendation in my application (my I140 was denied twice in the past after attornery did not submit proper wording to explain my previous job responsibilities prior to coming to US since I am on L1-A).

I was expected to receive response from TSC within 15 days filing under premium but days turn to weeks with no news. According to my company attorney, he is in daily contact with IO EVERYDAY, and the lastest fiasco he told me the IO told him they have received my file but has misplaced it...essentially they cannot locate my file???? THe IO also promised my attorney they will still treat my case as PP although PP has been halted. I do not know whether to believe my attorney. What good is the promise from IO that they will treat my case as PP when they cannot find my file? All I know it could be a ruse to not locate my file and wait till my L1-A visa expires.

Has anyone has this experience? File got lost? My questions:

a) what are my options? What should I do? Since my visa is expiring soon...? My company has assured me if we do not receive any news from either EB1-C or EB-3, they will find a place for me somewhere within other offices: either Asia, Vancouver or Europe for 1-3 years assignment so I can reapply upon my return.
b) Can I sue the USCIS for tormenting my life with their sloppiness?
c) If my company agree to let me work from Vancouver, BC and periodically return to US for meetings when my L1 visa expires, can I come back within 1 year to start the entire GC process again?

Any help and/or advice is appreciated.

Thanks much.
 
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