NIW EB-2 RFE please help!

dora_75

Registered Users (C)
I just got an RFE (below) for the i-140 (filed myself). How bad is it in your opinion? Should I hire a lawyer or should I take a chance and do it myself? I have 4 extra letters prepared but should I write the cover letter again proving all the points for NIW and the EB-2? I don't even know what extra info to send besides the letters? Any help would be appreciated.

"We note that the letters submitted in behalf of the beneficiary appear to be predominately written by interested parties, and while they are helpful they do not carry the same probative weight as opinions from experts and institutions that are clearly independent of the beneficiary. It is clear that the authors are experts in the beneficiary's area of specialty, however these letters speak of the beneficiary's accomplishments in glowing but general terms, and do not clearly delineate how the beneficiary's past accomplishments are a reasonable basis for his prospective benefit to the nation should your request for a national interest waiver be approved. In effect, the letters primarily serve to establish that the petitioner is well qualified in his area of expertise.

While the statements made are clearly complimentary, the statements from these witnesses do not persuasively show that the beneficiary has had an impact on the field to a degree that the granting of a national interest waiver would be warranted in this case. The record fails to contain any contemporaneous, corroborative documentary evidence to support the statements made. It is further noted that many of the witnesses stress.the importance of the beneficiary's work rather than the significance of his past individual influence on the field.

It is generally expected that an individual whose accomplishments have gone well beyond the circle of his personal acquaintances, would have letters of recommendation from sources beyond the circle of his personal acquaintances. In other words, if the beneficiary's work is not highly praised apart from his personal and professional associates, then it is difficult to conclude that he is of national interest. Considering the extremely restrictive immigrant category being requested, it is expected that the record would include a wider range ofletters.

Therefore, you are requested to submit opinions from experts and institutions that are clearly independent of the beneficiary. In addition, please submit documentation establishing evidence that the beneficiary's findings have enjoyed widespread implementation and acceptance."
 
dora_75 said:
I just got an RFE (below) for the i-140 (filed myself). How bad is it in your opinion? Should I hire a lawyer or should I take a chance and do it myself? I have 4 extra letters prepared but should I write the cover letter again proving all the points for NIW and the EB-2? I don't even know what extra info to send besides the letters? Any help would be appreciated.

"We note that the letters submitted in behalf of the beneficiary appear to be predominately written by interested parties, and while they are helpful they do not carry the same probative weight as opinions from experts and institutions that are clearly independent of the beneficiary. It is clear that the authors are experts in the beneficiary's area of specialty, however these letters speak of the beneficiary's accomplishments in glowing but general terms, and do not clearly delineate how the beneficiary's past accomplishments are a reasonable basis for his prospective benefit to the nation should your request for a national interest waiver be approved. In effect, the letters primarily serve to establish that the petitioner is well qualified in his area of expertise.

While the statements made are clearly complimentary, the statements from these witnesses do not persuasively show that the beneficiary has had an impact on the field to a degree that the granting of a national interest waiver would be warranted in this case. The record fails to contain any contemporaneous, corroborative documentary evidence to support the statements made. It is further noted that many of the witnesses stress.the importance of the beneficiary's work rather than the significance of his past individual influence on the field.

It is generally expected that an individual whose accomplishments have gone well beyond the circle of his personal acquaintances, would have letters of recommendation from sources beyond the circle of his personal acquaintances. In other words, if the beneficiary's work is not highly praised apart from his personal and professional associates, then it is difficult to conclude that he is of national interest. Considering the extremely restrictive immigrant category being requested, it is expected that the record would include a wider range ofletters.

Therefore, you are requested to submit opinions from experts and institutions that are clearly independent of the beneficiary. In addition, please submit documentation establishing evidence that the beneficiary's findings have enjoyed widespread implementation and acceptance."


not that BAD RFE
you need
1. Independent letters
2.letters shd clearly address third prong
3.while mainly it says third prong od NIW it also asks for proof o fnational interest at one point!

Do your efforts to get all these then you are safe!!
 
dora_75,

Which service center is handling your case?

Also, eb1doc, how would one emphasize on the third prong? That you are among the 1-2% in your field based on the past achievement be enough? Or it should be stated clearly that the applicant is better than any US citizens in the respective field? If so, A referee may not want to write that so clearly.
Please advise.
 
eb1a-query,
Your significant past accomplishments can be used as a projection of your potential contributions in the future, which could satisfy the third prong by showing that you are significantly better than US citizens with minimal qualifications. You don't have to be top 1-2% for NIW but this is probably desirable for EB1-EA category. Perhaps top 5-10% is sufficient for NIW petitions. A person who created or developed a technique is definately expected to make a bigger impact than a person who simply uses that technique for solving problems.
 
Get more Letters

I had the exact same RFE, in my case i got 9 more independent letters and every letter emphasized that they knew me by my work, and the work was of National interest. From the time i applied and got the RFE i had 10 more citations and i gave them copies of all the citations.
For you i would suggest the same, get atleast 8-10 "independent" letters and give all new the citations. Keep your petition letter short and upto the point. If you can do it yourself it is fine, but if you are not very sure then approach an attorney.
Good luck
 
This is a simple RFE. Get letters from independent referees. Request to professors that cite your work. They are aware of your work and sometimes agree to sign a letter, eventhough they don't know you.
And send copies of all your citations.
 
eb1a-query said:
dora_75,

Which service center is handling your case?

Also, eb1doc, how would one emphasize on the third prong? That you are among the 1-2% in your field based on the past achievement be enough? Or it should be stated clearly that the applicant is better than any US citizens in the respective field? If so, A referee may not want to write that so clearly.
Please advise.

VSC

I applied in 03/28. They moved fast... to bad I was not very sharp drafting my cover letter for i-140.
 
Thanks!

Thank you for all the good points made, you have all been very helpful. Your coments gave me energy going forward. I have 4 extra letters form one Nobel plus a president of organization and 2 Europeans; never worked with them. Previously I had 6 letters, 4 were my mentors and only 2 indep ( one is Nat. Ac Sci member however he is in my Department). Do you think it is enough? My brain just goes numb thinking that I have to draft 8 letters :(. I also got a Nature papers as second auth in the mean time. I hope it will help. Should I prepare the citations in a different way? Originally I just attached the ISI printout. Should I write the cover letter similar to responding to reviewers for a paper, more or less trying to show that the "new version" solves their issues?
 
Just a quick note, I have found that web of science gives fewer citations than SciFinder. For my case I had at least 20 more citations from SciFinder. So I submitted both the search results. You may want to try that.
 
eb1a-query said:
Just a quick note, I have found that web of science gives fewer citations than SciFinder. For my case I had at least 20 more citations from SciFinder. So I submitted both the search results. You may want to try that.

How to search citation from SciFinder Scholar ??? :confused: !!
Can it search inside text?? Can anyone post step by step ? or lil more ?

I have the answer of my own Q!! !!

well found it here!! http://www.cas.org/SCIFINDER/citation.html .. thanks anyway
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Pana,

Yes that's how I got them. Did you see SciFinder gives more citing refs since it updates much faster than ISI?
 
eb1a-query said:
Pana,

Yes that's how I got them. Did you see SciFinder gives more citing refs since it updates much faster than ISI?

Yes eb1a !! .. really surprised to see that 6 of my publications already described in 7 different book chapters through Scifinder !! this is indeed better results than web of science !! also found that Web of Science does not check supporting informations of acs journals or other journals like angew chem .. sometime supporting informations have some reference ... also WOS didn't show me few citaions in ARKIVOC (Gainesville, FL, United States) journals ... thanks !
 
pana said:
Yes eb1a !! .. really surprised to see that 6 of my publications already described in 7 different book chapters through Scifinder !! this is indeed better results than web of science !! also found that Web of Science does not check supporting informations of acs journals or other journals like angew chem .. sometime supporting informations have some reference ... also WOS didn't show me few citaions in ARKIVOC (Gainesville, FL, United States) journals ... thanks !

Guys,

Can you tell me how this SciFinder works. I could not search citations. Does it need to be purchased or what ??

Thanks

Redbluff
 
redbluff said:
Guys,

Can you tell me how this SciFinder works. I could not search citations. Does it need to be purchased or what ??

Thanks

Redbluff

are you in school? your chem/medchem friends should know about it ... ask them ... or send me a pm with your real name, name of your institute or publication list and your email address .. I will send the citation results .. Scifinder mostly for chemistry/biochemisrty/medicinal chemistry/biology people btw ! !
 
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