Disclaimer: The contents in this web site are only for your information and are not intended to be legal advice. While many of our applicants successfully obtain their I-140 approvals, the information here should not be considered as a guarantee of your green card application outcome.
Citations and Green card application
Published Jun 23,2013
By GCforPhD
Question:
I am a Ph.D. (MAGMA CUM LAUDE) holder from the a technical Germany in 2005. I am a German citizen.
I use to be also an H-1B visa holder from September 2008 to April 2011, and I worked at a startup company in the Biotechnology in the Bay Area, California. I left back to Germany, because the economic crisis at that time. Now I am back to San Francisco, and I try to find a job in the biotech, and I got my interviews, but no sponsoring, and in many cases, they want the permanent residency.
I heard about the possibility to get the green card in short time, if I am a Ph.D. and publications, which are cited by more than 100 persons. I checked at Google scholar and I find my publications were cited by >230 persons.
So can you help me, and give me some tips?
Thanks for your cooperation and help. I am looking forward to hear from you soon.
Reply:
You can self petition and get a green card in either the EB1a or EB2-niw categories. If citations are implying exceptional work, this could be a very key piece of evidence. Having several publications and citations is very helpful for the self-petition categories because this could potentially be used to claim evidence like for example
1) your research has wide international following 2) it is national in scope and 3) you have risen to the top of your filed etc..
Also when citations are one of the major evidence, the examiner might look at 1) how many of these are by co-authors/self-citations 2) who is really citing you work and why? While citation number is an important piece of evidence, how you prepare your over all petition and the rest of the evidence you present are also important. You still need to make sure you satisfy three and more of the USCIS criteria. Please take a look at the USCIS criteria for EB1A and EB2-NIW. Our ebook has information that self-petitioners have. The application process requires some effort on your part. You can see some example petitions to understand how to do it on your own.
For some nationalities and categories, it is possible to get a green card in as short as 4 months. You can see the USCIS criteria for these categories.
Best of luck
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Senthil
9 years ago
Hello,
I am a recent PhD holder. My research was in soybean oil based paints and coatings. I have about 8 publications (4 in peer review journals, 3 in inter national magazine, 1 in conference proceedings). I have given 4 poster presentation, 3 oral presentation in technical conferences. I also have 5 awards (one from university, one for poster presentation national level in USA, one from USA in international conference, one from India-state level, and one travel award). I just started publishing my research, so I have only 16 citations. (including 4 self citation and one co-author citation). So far, 11 times I have been invited for review and completed all the reviews. I am also a member of professional organization.
What is the possibility of getting approval in EB-1 as outstanding researcher?
For EB1-OR, you need to satisfy 2 of the 10 uscis criteria. From your description you certainly do. If you have a sponsoring agency (your employer) they can apply in EB1-OR and you can be successful.
If you would like to apply (or self-petition, no sponsorship required) in EB1a, you need to satisfy more than 3 of the 10 EB1a statutory requirements. From your description you certainly do. However, you also need to show the following two extraordinary tests
1. Petitioner is one of the small percentage of people who have risen to the very top of the field of endeavor.
2. Sustained national or international acclaim and that his or her achievements have been recognized in the field of expertise
Showing 2 is little hard. If you have several citations over >3 year period this becomes easy.
Best wishes
GCforPhD
Sali
5 years ago
Hi I have 75 citations and I have a PhD about Artificial Intelligence. My research is been in the news for more than 40 times, and was a frontier cover of magazine. I have more than 12 papers. I just wonder that what is my chance to get the green card. Thank you very much for everything.
Hi Sali, before answering your question, let me ask you about your country of birth.
Vahid
4 years ago
Hi everybody
I am from Iran. I have finished MS in Mechanical Engineering and I have more than 30 citation for my 4 papers over the period of 4 years. Currently I live in Iran. Is it possible to apply as self petition EB1 a from Iran. Or is it better to apply for a PhD here at US and then apply for that?
Thank you
Yes, it is possible to apply for EB1A from Iran. However, having 30 citations and MS could be an obstacle in preparing a strong petition.
samira Mohammed
3 years ago
Hello,
Hope my email finds you well!
I am trying to waive the two years home residency on my previous j1 visa. I would like to give more information about myself to see if it is worthy for you taking my case.
I hold a master degree in inorganic chemistry from one of the Egyptian universities in 2014. I came to the US for the first time 2016 as a visiting scholar to Buffalo university with a fellowship fully funded by my Egyptian government, I was on J1 which requires the two home residency. In 2018 , I won a phd scholarship from the same university then I went back home to change my visa to F1 and came back to the US to start my first semester as a phd student in Fall 2018. I have just defended my thesis ( a week ago) and my conferral day is February 1st 2021, which means I made it very fast. I worked as a teaching assistant for 4 semesters and last semester I won a fellowship plus another two research awards.
I have published a good amount of work as a first author or coauthor (my citations are 80, my specialty is chemistry). I am still working on more than 3 papers with the goal of publishing two of them soon.
Please let me know if there is any hope to waive the two home residency and if I can apply for the green card.
Also , I will be leaving the US in a month, can I work on that even if I am outside the US?
It really depends on whether or not you can get the no-objection letter from your government. I think you would be better off working with a qualified attorney regarding the J-1 Waiver. Speaking of the green card, we specialize in self-sponsored categories, EB1A and EB2-NIW. If you grow your citation count and can show that you made significant contributions to your field (and also referee several papers), then you may try EB1A. Sometimes, it is easier to apply for EB2-NIW just after finishing your PhD, if you can show that your work can benefit national interests, please have a look at our free eBook: https://www.greencardforphd.com/free-ebook
Speaking of filing petition and other documents abroad – yes, it is possible. You can opt for the consular processing of your documents and obtain the green card in your local U.S. embassy.
Sagnik Sengupta
2 years ago
I am a Ph.D. holder currently working at Purdue University as a postdoc. I have 9 publications and 45 citations. Am I eligible for the greencard? I am a synthetic organic chemist and my research work is based on ligand targeted theranostic tool synthesis.
This information is not sufficient to answer your question. Please have a look at our free e-book through the link below to see if you could be eligible for one of the green card categories we cover here.
Disclaimer: The contents in this web site are only for your information and are not intended to be legal advice. While many of our applicants successfully obtain their I-140 approvals, the information here should not be considered as a guarantee of your green card application outcome.
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Hello,
I am a recent PhD holder. My research was in soybean oil based paints and coatings. I have about 8 publications (4 in peer review journals, 3 in inter national magazine, 1 in conference proceedings). I have given 4 poster presentation, 3 oral presentation in technical conferences. I also have 5 awards (one from university, one for poster presentation national level in USA, one from USA in international conference, one from India-state level, and one travel award). I just started publishing my research, so I have only 16 citations. (including 4 self citation and one co-author citation). So far, 11 times I have been invited for review and completed all the reviews. I am also a member of professional organization.
What is the possibility of getting approval in EB-1 as outstanding researcher?
Hi
For EB1-OR, you need to satisfy 2 of the 10 uscis criteria. From your description you certainly do. If you have a sponsoring agency (your employer) they can apply in EB1-OR and you can be successful.
If you would like to apply (or self-petition, no sponsorship required) in EB1a, you need to satisfy more than 3 of the 10 EB1a statutory requirements. From your description you certainly do. However, you also need to show the following two extraordinary tests
1. Petitioner is one of the small percentage of people who have risen to the very top of the field of endeavor.
2. Sustained national or international acclaim and that his or her achievements have been recognized in the field of expertise
Showing 2 is little hard. If you have several citations over >3 year period this becomes easy.
Best wishes
GCforPhD
Hi I have 75 citations and I have a PhD about Artificial Intelligence. My research is been in the news for more than 40 times, and was a frontier cover of magazine. I have more than 12 papers. I just wonder that what is my chance to get the green card. Thank you very much for everything.
Hi Sali, before answering your question, let me ask you about your country of birth.
Hi everybody
I am from Iran. I have finished MS in Mechanical Engineering and I have more than 30 citation for my 4 papers over the period of 4 years. Currently I live in Iran. Is it possible to apply as self petition EB1 a from Iran. Or is it better to apply for a PhD here at US and then apply for that?
Thank you
Hello Vahid,
Yes, it is possible to apply for EB1A from Iran. However, having 30 citations and MS could be an obstacle in preparing a strong petition.
Hello,
Hope my email finds you well!
I am trying to waive the two years home residency on my previous j1 visa. I would like to give more information about myself to see if it is worthy for you taking my case.
I hold a master degree in inorganic chemistry from one of the Egyptian universities in 2014. I came to the US for the first time 2016 as a visiting scholar to Buffalo university with a fellowship fully funded by my Egyptian government, I was on J1 which requires the two home residency. In 2018 , I won a phd scholarship from the same university then I went back home to change my visa to F1 and came back to the US to start my first semester as a phd student in Fall 2018. I have just defended my thesis ( a week ago) and my conferral day is February 1st 2021, which means I made it very fast. I worked as a teaching assistant for 4 semesters and last semester I won a fellowship plus another two research awards.
I have published a good amount of work as a first author or coauthor (my citations are 80, my specialty is chemistry). I am still working on more than 3 papers with the goal of publishing two of them soon.
Please let me know if there is any hope to waive the two home residency and if I can apply for the green card.
Also , I will be leaving the US in a month, can I work on that even if I am outside the US?
thank you!
regards,
SM
Hi Samira,
It really depends on whether or not you can get the no-objection letter from your government. I think you would be better off working with a qualified attorney regarding the J-1 Waiver. Speaking of the green card, we specialize in self-sponsored categories, EB1A and EB2-NIW. If you grow your citation count and can show that you made significant contributions to your field (and also referee several papers), then you may try EB1A. Sometimes, it is easier to apply for EB2-NIW just after finishing your PhD, if you can show that your work can benefit national interests, please have a look at our free eBook:
https://www.greencardforphd.com/free-ebook
Speaking of filing petition and other documents abroad – yes, it is possible. You can opt for the consular processing of your documents and obtain the green card in your local U.S. embassy.
I am a Ph.D. holder currently working at Purdue University as a postdoc. I have 9 publications and 45 citations. Am I eligible for the greencard? I am a synthetic organic chemist and my research work is based on ligand targeted theranostic tool synthesis.
Hi Sagnik,
This information is not sufficient to answer your question. Please have a look at our free e-book through the link below to see if you could be eligible for one of the green card categories we cover here.
https://www.greencardforphd.com/free-ebook