Seeking Guidance

[hameshatumkocha]

Hello,

First, I thank you for your interest in reading this.

My details:

Education:
- Ph.D.(GPA 4.0), M.S. (GPA 3.5) both in ECE from a US Univ in top 50. B.E. (EE) in India.
- I have also completed a couple of 1-year certificate programs at my Univ (college teaching and entrepreneurship).

Experience:
- I have 8+ years of industry sponsored research and work experience.
- Got promoted to Sr. Engineer in 2.5 years. Still with the same (my first) employer

Other:
- MENSA India life member. Past member of MENSA US, IEEE, ECS etc. A few more awards.
- I recently gave invited talk at an engineering college in India.

Publications:
- 1 patent pending; another was provisional which was allowed to expire (undisclosed).
- 3 Journals and one to be submitted in a month
- 7 conferences and 2 more to be submitted in a month
- There are ~15 citations to my publications so far

Reviews:
- Reviewing a book
- Member of IEEE Sensors Journal committee for nearly one year
- Member of JECS for ~2 years and reviewed 7 pubs
- Reviewed 6 pubs for JETR, 2 for OMSJ, and 1 for JPHE

VISA and Green Card status:
- H1-B first 3 years expired and obtained 3 years extension. Expiring in 2.5 years.
- Applied for green card in 2007 with priority date 2005 Jan in ***EB3*** level.
- Got I-140 completed and am waiting to get the priority dates to get current to apply for I-485. Marital status: Married

Situation:
EB3 will take too long to start I-485 and then to finish.
Employer laid off folks, so cannot apply for EB2 for the next 6 months.
The lawyers keep saying that the profile is not strong enough for EB1. They said, once I get acceptance of the 3 papers ongoing, then they will consider. Hopefully all get accepted in short time.

QUESTION:
In either case, what are my options? Please guide and help.

Thanks,

 

[Kariboo]

Your lawyers seem to be correct. Even if you get more articles submitted it would probably not work. For EB1 you would have to claim to be in the top 2% of your field. Can you prove this?
Do your lawyers mean they may consider putting in for EB2 in 6 months? That is also backlogged for India though not as far back and your visa will become available sooner than in EB3. As far as I can see you would also be on shaky ground for EB2 since you don't have much in publication etc. However for that category you have to prove that you have made an impact in the field which is less difficult than proving you are at the top of your field