opinion about my NIW case

newToTheQueue

New Member
Hello all,

I am a newbie, and have managed to get a lot of information by browsing different threads in this forum. Thank you all for sharing your experiences which helps us newbies!

I do feel confident going down the path of applying for an NIW. But I have a couple of things I feel may make my case weak - any opinions are more than welcome (more so if I am out of my element to even think of applying !!)

1. I only have an MS degree (graduated 2003).
2. All my publications are as a second author. (1 book chapter, 5-6 journal pubs, and 15-20 conference pubs).
3. The citations for my work are pretty few - nearing 10.

My work easily satisfies the first 2 criteria of NYSDOT, yet the above points could be detrimental. I would appreciate opinions from anyone regarding my case.

Thanks!!
 
newToTheQueue said:
Hello all,

I am a newbie, and have managed to get a lot of information by browsing different threads in this forum. Thank you all for sharing your experiences which helps us newbies!

I do feel confident going down the path of applying for an NIW. But I have a couple of things I feel may make my case weak - any opinions are more than welcome (more so if I am out of my element to even think of applying !!)

1. I only have an MS degree (graduated 2003).
2. All my publications are as a second author. (1 book chapter, 5-6 journal pubs, and 15-20 conference pubs).
3. The citations for my work are pretty few - nearing 10.

My work easily satisfies the first 2 criteria of NYSDOT, yet the above points could be detrimental. I would appreciate opinions from anyone regarding my case.

Thanks!!

1. MS is still an advanced degree that allows one to claim NIW. If your degree is from foreign University, make sure that you have an evaluation stating that it's equivalent of US Master's.
2. If it's possible, you can get letters from the first author or from principal investigator of your projects describing your role in this work and preparing publications. Such a letter could state that your role was crucial in order to obtain these data and get it published. It might strengthen the publications evidence even though you were not the first author.
3. For citations, search in both ISI Index (Web of Science) and Google Scholar. The first one is the most comprehensive, but the latter could find some citations that are most recent and/or citations from the sources that are not covered by Web of Science, such as electronic only resources and less significant journals.
I assume that all your publications are fairly recent, so it was not enough time yet to get many citations. To deal with that, you may use the letters from other people requesting the corresponding author to send them a reprint. This may prove that your publications are of interest for the scientific community, and it will be reflected in future citations. Another way around to stress a significance of your publications is to show that the journals that published them are of high reputation and standards (e.g., top 10% Impact factor in your field - search Web of Science for these values).

Overall, the deficiency in publications and/or citations might be to some extent compensated by other evidences. I would say, try to obtain as many recommendation letters from independent scientists discussing your research achievements in details as you could. That might be helpful for your petition to fly.

I wish you the best of luck and keep working on your petititon!
 
I don’t think you need to worry too much about the “second author” thing. In these days, what kind of the research can be done by only one person?

And people are writing from left to right, so someone’s name has to be in the second place
 
1. I only have an MS degree (graduated 2003).
Answer... This certainly puts you in a very tight spot.. since you cannot be a leader in your field...most of your peers would be MD or Ph.D. For NIW they want someone who has really done a lot of good research work in the field for a good amount of time and for whom experts can easily testify that work is outstanding.


2. All my publications are as a second author. (1 book chapter, 5-6 journal pubs, and 15-20 conference pubs).
Answer.. This again affects you a lot since according to AAO this means you were not the main contributor of the orginal findings.. hence is a big problem.. INS gives a lot of importance to first authored papers..in good quality journals.


3. The citations for my work are pretty few - nearing 10.
Answer... Search more citations... You should have more than 100 citations of your work for it have a widespread impact of your work...

My work easily satisfies the first 2 criteria of NYSDOT, yet the above points could be detrimental. I would appreciate opinions from anyone regarding my case.
Most important is the 3rd NYSDOT which rejects most of the NIW applicants... you have to prove that you better than your peers..if your peees in the field are Ph.D. then atleast education wise you are not superior to them...


I would advise you to back of NIW and go for EB1-OR, which is easy and more promising.
 
1. I only have an MS degree (graduated 2003).
2. All my publications are as a second author. (1 book chapter, 5-6 journal pubs, and 15-20 conference pubs).
3. The citations for my work are pretty few - nearing 10.


MS degree from US makes u eligible for NIW/Eb2 cases. If you prove that your MS degree and any other kind of training makes for ideal choice above any for this national interest ....theat argument can lead u to sucess.It will not matter whether you are racing with phDs......Second author ...try getting attested from first author or communicating author that your have contributed X % on your publications thus making you important contributor. If recent publication then you have reason to argue...if not.....think better arguement.....
 
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