Please evaluate my EB1A eligibility

[shapradha]

Hi,

I am looking for an opinion from expert for qualitying EB1A outstanding application and chances
- Holding Ph.D electrical and electronics engineering
- 13 years of experience in software development/architect experience .working at a top tier service firm
- 2 years teaching experience
- 8 research papers ,first author (6 international journals ,2 International Conference) but having only 10 citations. Two are in very good journals
- IoT architect certified
- Reviewer for two international journal and editorial board in one international journal
- invited talks
- Currently living in india
- Can get recommendation letters

Please suggest
Thanks

[scientist2016]

Hi,

I am looking for an opinion from expert for qualitying EB1A outstanding application and chances
- Holding Ph.D electrical and electronics engineering
- 13 years of experience in software development/architect experience .working at a top tier service firm
- 2 years teaching experience
- 8 research papers ,first author (6 international journals ,2 International Conference) but having only 10 citations. Two are in very good journals
- IoT architect certified
- Reviewer for two international journal and editorial board in one international journal
- invited talks
- Currently living in india
- Can get recommendation letters

Please suggest
Thanks

One major red flag would be: Is your PhD related to your current work? If not, then PhD does not do much. Also, for EB1A the onus is on the applicant to prove that he/she meets atleast the required number of criteria, and is considered a world renowned expert in their field. To that end the editorial board membership helps. Reviewing journal papers by itself does not confer this, since USCIS has often claimed that reviewing papers is a responsibility that comes with being an active member of the scientific community. I would say the biggest weakness in your case would be establishing that you are not just another software developer who happens to have a PhD.

[shapradha]

Please evaluate my EB1A eligibility

Thanks for your quick response.

My Ph.D is related to my current work and in the same specialization . Also i can get recommendation letters proving that i am working as a subject matter expert in one or more area and developed many software products. Does membership in IEEE or any other body helps to improve my chance?

[scientist2016]

Thanks for your quick response.

My Ph.D is related to my current work and in the same specialization . Also i can get recommendation letters proving that i am working as a subject matter expert in one or more area and developed many software products. Does membership in IEEE or any other body helps to improve my chance?

Membership of a prestigious body is a criterion to demonstrate that you are an outstanding researcher. However, membership of IEEE (or for that matter any other professional body) is not enough, since USCIS has said that anyone is eligible to become a member of IEEE, and since there exists no constraints that the membership is limited to a select few, the fact that IEEE is a very reputed organization is not enough to confer outstanding researcher qualifications to all its members. So, though your membership cannot be used to satisfy one of the qualifying criteria for EB1A, you can use it to bolster your case. Best of luck.

[jaymlim109]

You don't qualify. 8 for engineering is too low of a count. Maybe if you got 8 in finance or accounting.

[dan_gard]

I think you may have good chances as EB2-NIW, not EB1.

[LeanSixSigma]

He doesn’t have a good chance with EB2-NIW because he mentions that he’s currently living in India. Since I am assuming, he’s an Indian Citizen the priority date EB2 for India and China are not current. You can check the latest visa bulletin at https://www.immihelp.com/all-visa-bulletins/

Check under the following section: A. FINAL ACTION DATES FOR EMPLOYMENT-BASED PREFERENCE CASES and Employment-Based 2^nd

Since the EB2 for India is not current he doesn’t qualify for EB2, therefore he wouldn’t quality for EB2 NIW.

Since he has a Ph.D electrical and electronics engineering, and since that individual had PhD in mechanical engineering, I thought I talk about some of the reasons for green card denial.

In order to qualify for NIW the individual must have either demonstrate qualification as either an Advanced degree professional or an individual of exceptional ability in the sciences, arts, or business. Since this individual had a PhD in mechanical engineering, he demonstrated qualifications for NIW. Basically, NIW means that there’s a waiver of the job offer requirement.

Furthermore, there are a couple more tests this individual must pass. First, they must show first prong, substantial merit and national importance. He showed this by having a Letter of reference from chair of the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering. The reference mentioned his proposed research seeks to advance "the design and development of devices for use in the oil and gas sector."

He also showed the national importance by presenting information from the U.S. Energy Information Administration relating to the amount of petroleum imported and exported by the United States. In addition, the Petitioner provided documentation indicating that the benefit of his proposed research has broader implications, as the results are disseminated to others in the field through scientific journals and conferences. He passed the first prong of the test. By the way you can read the highlighted annotation of important information from this case.

Moving on to the second prong of the test. The second prong shifts the focus from the proposed endeavor to the foreign national.

He submitted the following documentation: Curriculum vitae, Academic credentials, Published articles, Conference, Presentations, Awards, Research funding

Based on what he submitted the determination was that the evidence is insufficient to demonstrate that the he is well positioned to advance his proposed research under Dhanasar's second prong. (If you don’t know who Dhanasar is – you should get familiar with that case)

There are 2 major reasons his green card was denied. In my opinion it had to do with his letter of recommendation and the number of citations

Reason #1: Recommendation Letters:

References did not provide specific examples indicating that the Petitioner's work has affected production methods in the manufacturing industry or otherwise constitutes a record of success in his field.

References does not distinguish or highlight the Petitioner's work from the 32 other articles he cited to in his paper.

With respect to the Petitioner's research, another reference letter does not offer examples of how the Petitioner's microfabrication method has been implemented, utilized, or applauded in the oil and gas industry.

Reason # 2 Citations

Regarding the Petitioner's "overall citation record," The Petitioner does not specify how many citations for each of these individual articles were self-citations by him or his coauthors.

Moreover, in response to the Director's request for evidence (RFE), the Petitioner submitted an updated Google Scholar list reflecting a moderate increase of citations to his individual articles. He did not demonstrate how many of these additional citations occurred in papers published prior to or at the time of initial filing.

Regarding citation rates, Petitioner did not indicate whether he factored in any self-citations in determining this percentile ranking

Additionally, the documentation from Clarivate Analytics states that "[ c ]itation frequency is highly skewed, with many infrequently cited papers and relatively few highly cited papers. Consequently, citation rates should not be interpreted as representing the central tendency of the distribution."

The Petitioner's response to the Director's RFE included February 2019 information derived from "Microsoft Academic" that his citation and publication counts to those of other researchers Again, the Petitioner did not indicate whether he factored in any self-citations in compiling his percentile rankings from Microsoft Academic.

The Petitioner has not demonstrated that the number of citations received by his published articles reflects a level of interest in his work from relevant parties sufficient to meet Dhanasar' s second prong.

As previously noted, the June 2018 information from Google Scholar indicated that the first paper received only three citations and the second paper received just one citation

Minor Reason # 3 Funding

Do not identify who among their authors was primarily responsible for securing the funding for the research projects

The individual did not meet the requirement for second prong and therefore he didn’t meet the third prong

Lessons Learned: Start with recommendation letters. You need strong recommendation letters from experts in your field and use those recommendation letters in your petition cover letter.

My Opinion; Not Legal Advice

[eb123]

Hi,

I recently applied for EB1A and got RFE for Membership criteria.

I have IEEE Senior Membership. Here is my RFE details

"You submitted the evidence that the beneficiary is a Senior Member of the Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers(IEEE), but the bylaws submitted do not establish that this membership requires outstanding achievements of its members as judged by recognized national or international experts in their disciplines or fields. Requirements that only include employment or activity in a given field; minimum education, experience, or achievements, recommendations by colleagues or current members; or payment of dues do not satisfy this criterion since these requirements do not constitute outstanding achievements."

If anyone applied and got the above similar RFE and how you have answered to USCIS.Please kindly help,If anyone similar RFE approved and what documentation was provided to get it approved.

This will be of immense help to my EB1A RFE to answer.