Immigration Site

Hi All,

The university has agreed for to sponsor my OR petition and any suggestions on the below case is helpful

1) Research Articles (8): Graduate Work (5): First: 3, Third: 2
Postdoctoral work (3): First: 1, Equal First: 1, Second: 1

Attonrey Q’s: # of articles is thin, but we can try
My answer: I would like to justify this by providing the # of
publications in the area/s of my work are 9/year, 6/year, 1.5/year, 1/year
(through pubmed search)……Does it works?
Should I wait for my other first author communicated paper also get
accepted too???

2) Book Chapter: 1 co-author

3) Posters: international (3), national (2, India) and institutional (3)
Oral: Institutional (1), National (1, India)
Awards: Institutional Research Excellence award(1),
International (1), though this is a travel award, the certificate does mentions
that it is for outstanding abstract presentation, also got the letter from the
organizing committee saying that my work is in the top 5% of the
abstracts reviewed.

4) ~ 8 letters from experts in the field. My graduate research area is different from the postdoctoral work. I have 6 publications from my graduate work and 3 from my present work (one more communicated).
So, should the letters from experts be from both the research areas or just from the current research area???

5) Citations: Table showing the # of times each of my publication was cited by different countries (indicating international recognition of my work): 35
Table showing the # of times my publication has been cited in each of the citing article: 55
5 articles discuss my work extensively (3-5 lines), in addition to extensively citing my work (~5-10 times in each article).
Can I do it this way???

6) Principal Investigator on a grant: It is actually a postdoctoral award, but according to attorney and also the USCIS, these are not considered for the awards criteria. But, I would like to claim this in recognition of my outstanding research work, because it is relatively hard to get, only ~5/each year, and I am the 1 among the other 6 who got awarded.
I’ll be providing the documentation to show the reputation of the funding agency, criteria for selection, statistics of awards for 3 years (~5-7/year), current positions (almost 70% are in academic positions, and 40 are in director/chairman positions) of past awardees indicating its importance in the Urologic society, and also my name has been widely published in both the funding agency and institutional newsletters (6 times, thus indicating the importance of this award).
Two of my other grants on which I am the PI are pending; one is actually an international award where proposals are called from all over the world. Should I wait for these results and then file???

7) Review work: Reviewed: 5; declined for review: 3, but has the request emails; unattended: 1, has the request email.
Editorial board member
Can get 1-2 letters from the editors
Did anyone successfully claimed the review work/editor for the journals in
Asian Network for Scientific Information
Academic Journals Inc., ???????????

Any suggestions on what supporting documentation should I need to gather to claim the above criteria, and what possible RFE’s I may expect?

Thanks
Kasina

Just to check: You are planning to apply for the EB1 OR category not the EB2 category?

Question 1) do you have "at least three years experience in teaching or research in that academic area, and enter the U.S. in a tenure or tenure track teaching or comparable research position at a university or other institution of higher education" ? Since that is the underlying qualification.

Question 2) how different is your post doc work from your graduate work? If it is very different then you have to apply based on what you are doing now and plan to keep doing. All your support documentation can only apply to the work that you want the EB1 to be in (f.i. if you graduate work was in economics, but your postdoc work is in physics and you plan to stay in physics -> your EB1 application can only use support documentation about your current and prospective work. Articles you have published in economics for instance dont carry weight for the EB1 in physics). There are of course situations where graduate and postdoc work arent exactly the same but are generally in the same field, you have for instance started to specialize more and your current work is a natural follow up. In that case all your support docs can be used. Please carefully examine this, applications have been rejected because the supporting documentation did not pertain enough to the current work.

As far as the criteria for EB1OR
1. Receipt of major prizes or awards for outstanding achievement; You dont seem to qualify for this.
Awards: Institutional Research Excellence award(1), Doesnt count since it is not major.
International (1), though this is a travel award, the certificate does mentionsthat it is for outstanding abstract presentation, also got the letter from theorganizing committee saying that my work is in the top 5% of the abstracts reviewed.-> probably not unless you can document that this is something all other researchers in your field aspire to achieve, not just postdocs f.i.

2. Membership in associations that require their members to demonstrate outstanding achievements; You dont calim this

3. Published material in professional publications written by others about the aliens work in the academic field; You dont claim this

4. Participation, either on a panel or individually, as a judge of the work of others in the same or allied academic field;
Review work: Reviewed: 5; declined for review: 3, but has the request emails; unattended: 1, has the request email.
Editorial board member Can get 1-2 letters from the editors. This doesnt seem to set you apart form the majority of researchers in your field. Can you show that this is unusually often to be asked? Or can you show that you have multiple requests to you specifically for your expertise to review. If not you dont qualify under this criterion


5. Original scientific or scholarly research contributions in the field;
~ 8 letters from experts in the field. My graduate research area is different from the postdoctoral work. I have 6 publications from my graduate work and 3 from my present work (one more communicated).
So, should the letters from experts be from both the research areas or just from the current research area??? See my question 2

Citations: Table showing the # of times each of my publication was cited by different countries (indicating international recognition of my work): 35
Table showing the # of times my publication has been cited in each of the citing article: 55
5 articles discuss my work extensively (3-5 lines), in addition to extensively citing my work (~5-10 times in each article).
Can I do it this way??? -> you are confusing me here. What you need to show is that you have made an impact in your field. How many -different- articles refer to your work? You have to exclude self reference and references through your collaborators. Multiple cites in one article dont count extra.

Principal Investigator on a grant: It is actually a postdoctoral award, but according to attorney and also the USCIS, these are not considered for the awards criteria. -correct- But, I would like to claim this in recognition of my outstanding research work, because it is relatively hard to get, only ~5/each year, and I am the 1 among the other 6 who got awarded.
I’ll be providing the documentation to show the reputation of the funding agency, criteria for selection, statistics of awards for 3 years (~5-7/year), current positions (almost 70% are in academic positions, and 40 are in director/chairman positions) of past awardees indicating its importance in the Urologic society, and also my name has been widely published in both the funding agency and institutional newsletters (6 times, thus indicating the importance of this award). -> How does this award show that you are an outstanding researcher and have achieved outstanding work in your field as opposed to giving money for research yet to be done based on a good proposal? If it is the latter USCIS will say that it is normal for scientist to be funded

6. Authorship of scholarly books or articles (in scholarly journals with international circulation) in the field.
Research Articles (8): Graduate Work (5): First: 3, Third: 2
Postdoctoral work (3): First: 1, Equal First: 1, Second: 1
Book Chapter: 1 co-author

My answer: I would like to justify this by providing the # of
publications in the area/s of my work are 9/year, 6/year, 1.5/year, 1/year
(through pubmed search)……Does it works? -> If this is the route you want to go USCIS is looking for instance to referee letters Do these scientists at the level you claim to be at through applying for an EB1 have more or less publications than you? Also you cant narrow your field to the point where there are only a few scientists, they want you to show that you are one of the best in your field within reason. If you want to claim that the number of articles you have published puts you in the top of your field you would have to extensively document and argue that.

Posters: international (3), national (2, India) and institutional (3)
Oral: Institutional (1), National (1, India): These dont count, they are a normal part of your work



Any suggestions on what supporting documentation should I need to gather to claim the above criteria, and what possible RFE’s I may expect? I would suggest that you look at the EB1R criteria closely and see how your work fits into that. How would you argue your case that you are a top researcher in your field? I would try to not get an RFE becasue in my opinion that just flags your case and it will be looked at with more scruteny afterwards. There is a lot of information about what documentation USCIS wants for certain requirements and I would do my best to supply that in the first go at it

ETA: Do you have a job offer for either a tenured or tenure-track teaching position or a permanent research position ? Post doc positions dont count under EB1OR. Your application has to include the job offer written to you (not a letter to USCIS saying they will offer you a job or something like that)

thanks Kariboo for your review of my credentials. Attorney is more towards EB2, and for EB1 OR she is like we may try, but not sure. So, applying for OR


Question 1) do you have "at least three years experience in teaching or research in that academic area, and enter the U.S. in a tenure or tenure track teaching or comparable research position at a university or other institution of higher education" ? Since that is the underlying qualification.
Yes, I do have 3 years of research experience

Question 2) Do you have a job offer for either a tenured or tenure-track teaching position or a permanent research position ? Post doc positions dont count under EB1OR. Your application has to include the job offer written to you (not a letter to USCIS saying they will offer you a job or something like that)
I am not in a postdoc position, in a Research Faculty position (non-tenure track). Offer letter is not a problem, because dept HR and attorney are working together to draft a letter as required for the EB1OR. Also, chairman of the dept, is going to give a letter indicating the permanent nature of my position.

Question 3) how different is your post doc work from your graduate work?
As you said, both are in the same field, but different research areas, one is on a cytoskeletal protein (in relation to breast cancer, cardiovascular) and the present is on on prostate cancer. So, I guess its a follow up.

Please carefully examine this, applications have been rejected because the supporting documentation did not pertain enough to the current work.
You mean to say claiming much of past work, than the present work may lead to RFE

Ill be claiming for

1. Authorship of scholarly books or articles (in scholarly journals with international circulation) in the field.

A)Research Articles (8): Graduate Work (5): First: 3, Third: 2
Current work (3): First: 1 (one more communicated), Equal First: 1, Second: 1
B) Book Chapter: 1 co-author, not the present work, past work

I would like to justify my low # in publications by providing the # of publications in the area/s of my work are 9/year, 6/year, 1.5/year, 1/year(through pubmed search)……Does it works? -> If this is the route you want to go USCIS is looking for instance to referee letters Do these scientists at the level you claim to be at through applying for an EB1 have more or less publications than you? ...sorry Kariboo, I didnt get you from this?

If you want to claim that the number of articles you have published puts you in the top of your field you would have to extensively document and argue that.....any input on how to document this???

C) Posters: international (3), national (2, India) and institutional (3)
D) Oral: Institutional (1), National (1, India): These dont count, they are a normal part of your work.
does poster presentations at international scientific meetings does not count for authorship of scholarly work


2. Original scientific or scholarly research contributions in the field;

A. ~ 8 letters from experts in the field. My graduate research area is different from the postdoctoral work.
Should the letters from experts be from both the research areas or just from the current research area???
See my question 2.....As field is the same, though research area is different, as you said Ill get letters
form top experts in both the research areas

B. Citations: Table showing the # of times each of my publication was cited by different countries (indicating international recognition of my work): 35
Table showing the # of times my publication has been cited in each of the citing article: 55
5 articles discuss my work extensively (3-5 lines), in addition to extensively citing my work (~5-10 times in each article).
Can I do it this way??? -> you are confusing me here. What you need to show is that you have made an impact in your field. How many -different- articles refer to your work? its 35You have to exclude self reference and references through your collaborators. Multiple cites in one article dont count extra.....does extensive citation in one article does not indicate that we have made an impact in our field

C. Principal Investigator on a grant: It is actually a postdoctoral award, but according to attorney and also the USCIS, these are not considered for the awards criteria. -correct- But, I would like to claim this in recognition of my outstanding research work, because it is relatively hard to get, only ~5/each year, and I am the 1 among the other 6 who got awarded.
I’ll be providing the documentation to show the reputation of the funding agency, criteria for selection, statistics of awards for 3 years (~5-7/year), current positions (almost 70% are in academic positions, and 40 are in director/chairman positions) of past awardees indicating its importance in the Urologic society, and also my name has been widely published in both the funding agency and institutional newsletters (6 times, thus indicating the importance of this award). -> How does this award show that you are an outstanding researcher and have achieved outstanding work in your field as opposed to giving money for research yet to be done based on a good proposal? If it is the latter USCIS will say that it is normal for scientist to be funded......this award is considered prestigious in the urological community, any inputs on how to elevate this is appreciated

D. International (1), though this is a travel award, the certificate does mentionsthat it is for outstanding abstract presentation, also got the letter from theorganizing committee saying that my work is in the top 5% of the abstracts reviewed.-> probably not unless you can document that this is something all other researchers in your field aspire to achieve, not just postdocs f.i..........yes, their website itself says its not for just postdocs, but also for junior faculties below the level of asst. professor.......can awards for outstanding abstracts/posters be claimed in support of recognition of my original contributions



3. Membership in associations that require their members to demonstrate outstanding achievements;
Sigma Xi Full Membership

4. Published material in professional publications written by others about the aliens work in the academic field; You dont claim this
will not be using just citations for this....along with that Ill add some publications by others which discuss my work (atleast 3-5 lines) and cited my work extensively


5. . Participation, either on a panel or individually, as a judge of the work of others in the same or allied academic field;
Review work: Reviewed: 5; declined for review: 3, but has the request emails; unattended: 1, has the request email.
Editorial board member Can get 1-2 letters from the editors. This doesnt seem to set you apart form the majority of researchers in your field. Can you show that this is unusually often to be asked? Or can you show that you have multiple requests to you specifically for your expertise to review. If not you dont qualify under this criterion...since june 2009, I got 9 request for review, almost one each month


How would you argue your case that you are a top researcher in your field? I would try to not get an RFE becasue in my opinion that just flags your case and it will be looked at with more scruteny afterwards. There is a lot of information about what documentation USCIS wants for certain requirements and I would do my best to supply that in the first go at it...would it be possible for you to give some input on how and what documentary evidence do I need to show in support my claiming the above criteria



Thanks
Kasina

[QUOTE=Kasina;2147275]thanks Kariboo for your review of my credentials. Attorney is more towards EB2, and for EB1 OR she is like we may try, but not sure. So, applying for OR



Kasina, before I give you more feedback please be clear as to what category you want to file under EB1OR or EB2OR, the criteria are different. Form the above sentence I dont understand which it is. If your attorney thinks EB2 would be better why would you try under EB1?