Q&A on my NIW chances

blogzter

Registered Users (C)
Fellows,

Seeking your experience on this matter in addition to some tips on how to make the application stronger.

- BS chemical engineering from europe
- PhD chemical engineering from US
- Internship in Emory Med Sch. in US
- Postdoc in a state university in US
- 8 journal articles published and 4 under review
- total of ~ 25 citations half of them from within the authors/coauthors
- 1 patent pending
- 1 educational grant
- 2 NIH grants pending
- member of ACS and AIChE
- Worked on nanotech during grad school (6 articles)
- Worked on lipid research in intership (no publications)
- Working on nanotech and cancer research in postdoc (2 published and 4 under review)
- Research was highlight in ACS news
- Reviewer for ACS publications (review 2 articles so far)

So, what are my chances. I may be able to go through employer sponsorship, but will take them looooong before starting to process, needing 2 years employment before starting application (so far 1 yr with them).

Any advice?
 
Fellows,

Seeking your experience on this matter in addition to some tips on how to make the application stronger.
Ans: Check the ten criteria for NIW. You may claim couple of them, see the following detailed responses.

- BS chemical engineering from europe
- PhD chemical engineering from US
- Internship in Emory Med Sch. in US
- Postdoc in a state university in US
Ans: These don't count for anything. You could brief your history and background, just to give the officer a general impression. But don't emphasize and don't expect anything from these.

- 8 journal articles published and 4 under review
Ans: You really need to highlight and emphasize your published papers including the journals (rank, impact factor etc. the quality of the journals) and the contribution of your study.
You could claim "significant contribution" and "scholarly authorship" from this.
The under review manuscripts don't count anything at all. No need to even mention them. (The officer could suggest you to wait for couple of years if you emphasize much of the under review work).

- total of ~ 25 citations half of them from within the authors/coauthors
You may need to dig out more citations. Don't mention the within loop citations. You could quote the overall citations, and highlight the non-self-citations.
- 1 patent pending
Again, the pending work doesn't count. No help.

- 1 educational grant
- 2 NIH grants pending
- member of ACS and AIChE
If you receive the educational grant during your education period (for students etc.), it doesn't count for "award and fellowship".
The pending grants does't count.
For the "professional association memberships", you need to be careful. The general rule here is that the paid membership doesn't count. It has to be a honored fellowship, as a recognition of your excellence in the field. You need to get the support letter from the organizer.

- Worked on nanotech during grad school (6 articles)
- Worked on lipid research in intership (no publications)
- Working on nanotech and cancer research in postdoc (2 published and 4 under review)
The work experience in nanotech could be useful. The internship may not help, as there is no outcome. Highlight and emphasize your wonderful work in the nanotech and cancer field. Get strong support letters from your field. The references should be out of your loop, i.e. not your supervisor, not your colleagues, not in your lab, etc. The good ones could be someone you met in the conference, that cited your work, etc. no personal interest or relation.

- Research was highlight in ACS news
This could be used for the "media report". Make sure, your name was mentioned in the report.

- Reviewer for ACS publications (review 2 articles so far)
This could be useful for the "judge of other work". Reviewing two papers could be weak. However, it may help if you can get support letters from the editors confirming that you are a regular reviewer for that journal.

So, what are my chances. I may be able to go through employer sponsorship, but will take them looooong before starting to process, needing 2 years employment before starting application (so far 1 yr with them).

Any advice?
You may sail through, if your case is well presented. Thoroughly study the ten criteria for the NIW petition, emphasize your strong and best bets in your petition letter while mention your weak and not so strong points. For NIW, don't forget that the significance of your research field (nanotech and cancer) to the US national interest is a strong item itself.

Finally, good luck.
 
You definitively have a good chance. Get an experienced attorney. If you know any program managers from NIH who can write a letter of recommendation for you, that would almost guarantee success. The NIW itself without 485 is pretty cheap (a couple thousand including lawyer fees), so its probably worth going for it while awaiting your employer to agree to do an employer-sponsored petition.
 
llp1, that was an amazingly detailed respond. I appreciate you taking the time to do that.
And also thank to nscagony for the encouraging comment. I believe that I will start the process of collecting the needed documents. Meanwhile, I will be looking for a good lawyer that will take the time compile a good personal application!

P.S. I know NIH and NSF directors that I will try to write them, will they write a letter, that would be another story.
 
blogzter,
For the NIH and NSF directors, if you get them, super, if not, it's still OK. You may draft the letters, and politely explain to them that the immigration letters have their own strange format requirement.
My references first wrote me letters saying I was a "promising young" mathematician etc, which almost killed my case and which was the reason of the RFE. Those big guys tend to say "promising" or "has potential" etc. for a young researcher, thinking they are already appraising you much.
The point is: an usual nice letter that works well for the other applications (like jobs) may not be a good letter for the immigration.
You need to be careful on what is included in your petition package.
 
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