Please evaluate my case for NIW/EB1

J

JennaNi

Registered Users (C)
Hi, guys
I am a new member to this form, and it seems there so many kind people who share their experience and knowledge here. Please kind evalute my case so I have some ideas about my case. Thank you!!

PhD in Computational Mechanics in a fair university
now working as a post doctoral associate in another fair university
My PhD research was NAVY funded, and My post doctoral job is funded by DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Department of Defense) and NASA.Right now, I have involved in writing two proposals to DARPA and NASA as co-investigator and both proposals got funded.

have published more than 15 peer reviewed papers on international renowned journals as well as more than 10 conference papers
have served as reviewers for three journals and have reviewed 6 paper
Have won awards and grants but they are not really important awards
My name and research have being mentioned in a largest local paper, but they were not interviewed me, but my advisor (so I don't know if it would be considered)
I can get some recommdation letters from Professors in U.S and oversea,1 letter from a senior manager (PhD) from Motorola, 1 letter from the president (PhD) of a US start-up company (have collaboration with me now), 1 letter from a manager (PhD) in Naval research lab, and 1 letter from the head of one of our funding agency at DARPA.
I appreciate your help, if you can. Thank you very much.
 
Looks like you have good chances in OR. For EA you have to be more specific about what kind of awards you won etc.. NIW is hard to say because for that it is important to know what kind of researchyou are doing exactly and if you are so specialized that you fit in NIW.
Just some questions:
Were you invited personally (by letter and email) to act as referee for these journals, do they have a high impact factor) ?
What kind of awards did you won? Are they international or at least national awards ?

And as said so often before the most important part is to get excellent recommendation letters from scientist in industry/academia which have absolutly no connection to you. And these letter have to specific for NIW,OR or EA
 
Honkman: Can I applied for OR? I job now is a post doc.
I think I might have a chance for NIW since my research is developing power technologies for military ships.
I was invited by e-mail to serve as referee's for three journals.
I propably cannot rely on the awards. I won a student grant for an international industrial society and best student paper for a international conference. But I think it should not hurt my chance as far as I don't use them as main items.

Thanks.
 
Jenna,
I think, and this is my personal opinion and I am not a lawyer, that you have a very good chance at both NIW and EA. I have seen individuals with leass credentials, but in different field, got approved in both EA and NIW. The point is not how good you are, obviously you are very good. But the point is how well your application cover letter and recommendation letters are drafted. I would strongly suggest that you hire a good lawyer for these cases.
 
JennaNi said:
Honkman: Can I applied for OR? I job now is a post doc.
I think I might have a chance for NIW since my research is developing power technologies for military ships.
I was invited by e-mail to serve as referee's for three journals.
I propably cannot rely on the awards. I won a student grant for an international industrial society and best student paper for a international conference. But I think it should not hurt my chance as far as I don't use them as main items.

Thanks.
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For NIW it is important to show why the US would be hurt if you have to go through the "normal" LC process instead of giving you the green card via the NIW. To argue that you work for technology which is related to military is not enough. You have to show that you are such in expert in this particular field that there is hardly any subsitution for you here in the US which could do your work. Since I am not an expert on your field I can't evaluate this and also a lawyer can't do this but you need extremely good reference letters for this from absolute independent, famous experts (with no connection to you or one of your former bosses) on your field who agree on this. (NIW is in my opinion by far the most difficult way to get approved in comparison to OR and EA).
For EA I think you are on the borderline but it looks a little bit weak but again good reference letters might push you towards approval, but you will need a good lawyer who writes you a good petition for this, since it is relativlye weak.
OR for postdocs is a little bit tricky. First of all you have to prove that it is a permanent position and in addition you have to have at least three years of work experience after your PhD. If both criteria are ok for you I think you have by far the best chances in OR
 
You might not able able to apply for OR

Hi Jenna,

I think if you apply for OR, the chances are high that the application will get rejected. See the list of administrative decisions:
http://uscis.gov/graphics/lawsregs/admindec3/index.htm
They reject OR applications of post-docs saying that post-doc is not a permanent job.

I think going for EA and NIW is definitely worth it. You have to advocate your case carefully, by properly emphasizing all strong points that you might have on your resume under suitable evidence criteria, and by avoiding fluff. I think USCIS officers hate fluff.

Good luck!
 
Hi, Guys
It is so encouraging to see your responses. Since my current position is not permanent and I graduated the past May, I guess I can't apply OR, but I do want to try NIW and EB-1. The thing as you guys all said is to find a good lawyer who can present my case well and good references. I have been doing some research on lawyers, but it seems so hard to find the good one. I don't mind to pay a little bit more money just for a better one. Please someone who have good experiences with their lawyers can recommand to me by email me @ nijingxia@gmail.com. I appreciate your kind help. Have a great day.
 
JennaNi said:
Hi, Guys
It is so encouraging to see your responses. Since my current position is not permanent and I graduated the past May, I guess I can't apply OR, but I do want to try NIW and EB-1. The thing as you guys all said is to find a good lawyer who can present my case well and good references. I have been doing some research on lawyers, but it seems so hard to find the good one. I don't mind to pay a little bit more money just for a better one. Please someone who have good experiences with their lawyers can recommand to me by email me @ nijingxia@gmail.com. I appreciate your kind help. Have a great day.
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I would suggest you to do self filing. Your qualifications are excellent. If you can write so many papers in peer reviewed international journals, why can not you write a strong covering letter.
 
haiyan said:
I would suggest you to do self filing. Your qualifications are excellent. If you can write so many papers in peer reviewed international journals, why can not you write a strong covering letter.
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Writing papers in scientific journals has absolutly nothing to do with writing a very strong petition.
 
haiyan said:
I would suggest you to do self filing. Your qualifications are excellent. If you can write so many papers in peer reviewed international journals, why can not you write a strong covering letter.
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I would say if you really have real copies of the success cases from someone you know, it is not a bad idea to do self filing.
 
Copies of successful cases

Is anyone in the community willing to post copies of their successful petitions here for the benefit of the rest?

If anyone can do that, it will be very helpful!
Of course, all personal information can be taken out before posting the petition here, to maintain anonymity
 
Hi, guys
I think everybody has some own ideas. Honestly, I think I can do it by myself, but the chance would be higher if I can get a good lawyer who has more experience in preparing petition letter. Is anyone here know Stephen Jeffries & Associates In NYC?? He evaluate my case and saying that my chance get improved exceed more than 90% if prepared well, but he charge so much, $8000 plus USCIS fees. Also how about Sheila Murthy and Rajiv Khanna, any experience with them?? Thanks
 
JennaNi said:
Hi, guys
I think everybody has some own ideas. Honestly, I think I can do it by myself, but the chance would be higher if I can get a good lawyer who has more experience in preparing petition letter. Is anyone here know Stephen Jeffries & Associates In NYC?? He evaluate my case and saying that my chance get improved exceed more than 90% if prepared well, but he charge so much, $8000 plus USCIS fees. Also how about Sheila Murthy and Rajiv Khanna, any experience with them?? Thanks
Click to expand...
Your chances are high because your qulaifications are high, attorneys have to do nothing with it. Who can know you or present your credentials better than you can do yourself. Attorneys will charge money, if your case gets approved he will take credit if it gets rejected he will just wash his/her hands and leave you at your own fate. So it is not worth spending such a big amount of money on attorney. But if you wish to hire an attorney then my sincere suggestion is to go for an American Attorney (I mean born white American). Attorneys who themselves were immigrant in this country are more likely to exploit you, so be very careful.
 
You can always prepare your application but a good lawyer can prepare your application in a way that is more in line with what USCIS criteria demand. From my own experience I believe, there is no substitue for a good lawyer.

Regarding the attorney you mentioned, you should ask him two questions:

1. How did he come to the number 90% probablity for approval of your case?
2 What is HIS success rate for EB1-EA petitons in say last 4 years.

Shop around for a lawyer. Make sure you get the best legal brain and not the cheapest. That should be the only criterion.

____________________________________________

Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer and my suggestions should be used at your own risk.
 
attorneys etc

JennaNi said:
Hi, guys
I think everybody has some own ideas. Honestly, I think I can do it by myself, but the chance would be higher if I can get a good lawyer who has more experience in preparing petition letter. Is anyone here know Stephen Jeffries & Associates In NYC?? He evaluate my case and saying that my chance get improved exceed more than 90% if prepared well, but he charge so much, $8000 plus USCIS fees. Also how about Sheila Murthy and Rajiv Khanna, any experience with them?? Thanks
Click to expand...

Your credentials are great. No lawyer would like to appear nepotistic in the eyes of USCIS. Check out their websites and see their lawyer profiles. Sadly there's been much ethnic slander on the boards lately so you'll have to decide for yourself.

Trust your gut whether you want to go with a lawyer or file yourself. Only you can decide. Beware of the third prong. Sheela Murthy did my case (incidentally she's the only Indian lawyer in that firm) and I'm happy with the outcome. I'm Asian Indian and some people I know have chosen non-Asian lawyers. It doesn't really matter.

Be sure to get very strong testimonials. Even if you hire a lawyer you have to put in a lot of effort in your case. Its important to make a scientifically convincing yet easily comprehendible argument. The impact is as important as the scientific quality of the work. Good law firms see many more cases, many more RFE's than individuals. If they are honest they will tell you how many denials they've had and what palliatives were used.

Ultimately it is your choice.

Good luck!
 
haiyan said:
... But if you wish to hire an attorney then my sincere suggestion is to go for an American Attorney (I mean born white American). Attorneys who themselves were immigrant in this country are more likely to exploit you, so be very careful.
Click to expand...

That's the stupidest thing I have ever heard. How did you come to this conclusion? Why are once-immigrant lawyers more likely to exploit you? It's particularly shameless of you to say this on a forum paid for and maintained by an immigrant attorney!
 
Wow, so many kind responses, really appreciate it. Now I have some ideas about my case. I guess I can have a shot under EB1/NIW. I would apply both just get a higher chance. I am wondering if you guys think lawyers' location matter or not. I feel like if I don't sit down with my lawyer face to face, I would not trust him/her. Can anyone tell me what would you ask your lawyer in order to find if he/she is a good lawyer who would take your case seriously?? Thanks. Good luck to you all.
 
JennaNi said:
Hi, guys
I am a new member to this form, and it seems there so many kind people who share their experience and knowledge here. Please kind evalute my case so I have some ideas about my case. Thank you!!

PhD in Computational Mechanics in a fair university
now working as a post doctoral associate in another fair university
My PhD research was NAVY funded, and My post doctoral job is funded by DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Department of Defense) and NASA.Right now, I have involved in writing two proposals to DARPA and NASA as co-investigator and both proposals got funded.

have published more than 15 peer reviewed papers on international renowned journals as well as more than 10 conference papers
have served as reviewers for three journals and have reviewed 6 paper
Have won awards and grants but they are not really important awards
My name and research have being mentioned in a largest local paper, but they were not interviewed me, but my advisor (so I don't know if it would be considered)
I can get some recommdation letters from Professors in U.S and oversea,1 letter from a senior manager (PhD) from Motorola, 1 letter from the president (PhD) of a US start-up company (have collaboration with me now), 1 letter from a manager (PhD) in Naval research lab, and 1 letter from the head of one of our funding agency at DARPA.
I appreciate your help, if you can. Thank you very much.
Click to expand...

You may try for EA and NIW categories. If you are doing research in the same area (does not matter even if you are postdoc) over years, you have more chances of winning cases.
 
location of lawyer

I do not think location of the lawyer does matter. My lawyer was in couple hours driving from me and I never met him and never even talked to him by phone, all contacts were by e-mail and mail/fax.
Then I moved and he was in 8 hours driving...then I moved again and he was in several days driving:) he is in CA and I am in MD now.
(I had NIW case denied, then he filed an appeal and the case got approved...)
Of course if you want to see your lawyer you better find one near you, just to make YOU feel better (which is important), but I do not think lawyer's location really matters...
I know many lawyers charge a lot, but some do charge separate for I-140 and I-485, and you could pick only I-140 with a lawyer and then file I-485 yourself. You could have a lawyer for one I-140 (NIW) and file another (EA) yourself juct after NIW...I believe in this case you will pay something around 3-4K for juct one I-140 as lawyer fee...
 
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