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Request for pointers to approach Green Card Application

Published Oct 26,2016 By Jayaram

Hi guys,

First of all I would like to thank you for your community based effort to address questions for Green Card Application. Big thumbs up.

Below, I have stated my wife and my background, followed by questions.

Here is my background

– M.S, PhD in Electrical Engineering from Georgia Tech ( Department ranked in top 6 every year)

– 8 Research papers(4 with first author) in well recognized IEEE conference and Journals with about 16 citations 

– Presented 3 posters and 1 invited talk  in top conferences

– Presently employed at Qualcomm with 2 years of work experience in their most profitable product division. Develop futuristic products.

– Active reviewer for papers every year at the top conference. Reviewed about 10 papers so far.

– I can obtain recommendations from IEEE Fellows and well qualified and known Industry leaders (from my prior work experience)

Here is my wife’s background

– MS from avg. ranked university and currently completing her PhD from UC Berkeley in Metabolic Biology

– 3 years of Research Associate position at Harward 

– Published all through her career : 5 research papers (one is top journal) with about 60 citations in total 

– One award at UC Berkeley in  a research display competition

– 2 invited talk (one international and one in US)

– Teaching experience for 4 years at UC Berkeley as a TA

– Can get recommendations from well recognized researchers in her field internationally 

I have following options with higher priority coming first

 (1) File employer based EB1 for me (2) File self-petition based EB1 for my wife and/or me (3) File self-petition based EB2-NIW for my wife or me 

My question 

My employer is evaluating my background for (1). Lets say, they recommend filing in EB2-NIW (employer based).

Meanwhile, can you please suggest which one of us would be a better candidate for (2) and/or (3). We both are Indian citizens.  

Posted in EB1A
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Tigran Kalaydzhyan
Tigran Kalaydzhyan
7 years ago

Hi Jayaram,

If you are born in India, then EB1A is, basically, the only option for you (or, at least, the one with the highest priority).
The problem is that even if I-140 is approved, you will not be eligible for the adjustment of status for the next several years. As an example, only those Indian nationals can now file I-485, who filed I-140 before 04/22/2009, see the link below
https://www.uscis.gov/visabulletin-oct-16
EB1A does not have this restriction.
It is not that easy to say who of you has a better chance of getting I-140 approved. There are many details that should be considered. Let me cover some of them (please refer to our DIY packets for more complete information)

[*] Are you the first author in conference publications or the journal publications? If the latter, then you can satisfy an additional USCIS criterion (Evidence that the alien has performed in a leading or critical role for organizations or establishments that have a distinguished reputation). Maybe you can satisfy the same criterion with your current work – it depends on your role there. Same with the “Evidence of the alien’s original scientific, scholarly, artistic, athletic, or business-related contributions of major significance in the field.”
[*] It is necessary to prove a sustained international acclaim. While your citation level is too low for that, maybe there are alternative ways to do that – through the recommendations or some metrics used in the industry.
[*] Same for your wife. If she published some papers while being in Harvard or UC Berkeley and she is the first author, this is a strong evidence comparing to the situation when she is not the first author or the journal has no impact factor. It also matters whether the citation level 60 is considered high/low/moderate in her field. If it is high, she can use it to prove the sustained acclaim. If it is low, she should find an alternative way.
[*] If your wife files the petition after she obtains her PhD, this petition will look stronger.

I would suggest you have a look at the USCIS criteria (first link below) and a checklist for EB1A (second link) to estimate who of you has better odds. Please familiarize yourself with our manuals to see what evidences can be used in your case (third link).
http://www.greencardforphd.com/eb1a/extraordinary-ability-eb1a-and-uscis-criteria
https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/USCIS/Outreach/Draft%20Request%20for%20Evidence%20(RFE)%20Template%20for%20Comment/E11_RFE_Template_1-10-11.pdf
http://www.greencardforphd.com/purchase

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