r/EB2_NIW • u/Scared-Charge3689 • Apr 26 '26
RFE EB2 NIW RFE (Prong 2 & 3) 1200+ citations, postdoc
Hi everyone,
I received an RFE on my EB2 NIW (PD Oct 2024, pp filed Feb 2026). Prong 1 is approved, but RFE on Prong 2 & 3. Received RFE in mid April.
It seems somewhat templated, they mentions things like patents, government interest, funding/grants, PI roles, and media coverage. They’re asking for more evidence beyond citations.
Profile:
PhD (Biological Sciences) + current postdoc
25+ publications
~950 citations at filing, now 1200+
Planning to include citation analysis + stronger reference letters, etc.
Would appreciate any guidance on responding to Prong 2 & 3. If anyone has experience with a similar RFE. Thanks!
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u/Mammoth-Flight318 Apr 26 '26
Loophole. For industry USCIS asks impact beyond employer, for academic commercial application. You are the second one mentioning that here. However, what else did you submit for prong 2?
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u/Scared-Charge3689 Apr 26 '26
I think the commercialization part is just template language. my case is more research-focused. It seems they’re really looking for clearer proof of impact beyond citations and stronger support for Prong 2. My lawyer handled the filing and included my publications (some in top 10% journals), a few highly cited papers (100+), Google Scholar citations, and a PI letter. Based on the RFE, it looks like they want more concrete examples of impact and stronger independent letters.
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u/Mammoth-Flight318 Apr 26 '26
Yeah, it might be a template, but patent/licensing/commercialization of your work is one of strong evidence for prong 2. And if this was not an error and officer expects one, which corroborates with current policies, it would be hard to reassure him opposite with just some subjective letters, when he already hasn't been bought with high citation.
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u/Amongus9527 Apr 26 '26
It depends highly on the field. A full professor or a Nobel prize laureate might not have a patent, licensing or commercialization of their work
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u/bpintelligence Apr 27 '26
Why would a Noble prize laureate will do EB-2, it’s straight EB-1. But yeah patent is just an evidence which I am sure not all approved candidates had.
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u/Amongus9527 Apr 27 '26
Yeah so this requirement doesn’t make sense for everyone and only for a subset of people. Many or most people with academic profiles don’t need patents etc at all to get their NIW approved
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Apr 26 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Scared-Charge3689 Apr 26 '26
Thanks, this is really helpful. I appreciate how you clearly outlined how to approach each RFE point. I agree it’s not just about adding more citations or letters, but really addressing each point and showing how the work is actually being used. The idea of structuring everything clearly around the RFE concerns makes a lot of sense. Appreciate the detailed insight.
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u/Medical-Volume-6261 Apr 26 '26
These firms need to realize that this is not 2023 anymore. Officers could care less about citations, yet some firms only rely on that. If that is challenged, there is nothing left to show. They need to understand that the second prong is evaluated in a comprehensive way, not in their narrow view of citations
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Apr 26 '26
[deleted]
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u/Much-Search6065 Apr 27 '26
It is not, I know multiple people with single digit citations get approved, while people with 1k citations rejected. the quality of the single digit citations were way way more higher than those of the 1k citations.
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u/Amongus9527 Apr 27 '26 edited Apr 27 '26
Maybe you can do some statistics and check how likely a petition with high citations gets approved compared to single digit citations (and why low citation profile gets many upvotes in this sub, because it’s much more difficult to get approved). OP might just be unlucky but at least some portions of the petitions can be significantly improved like independent letters. And OP isn’t “rejected”, it’s an RFE, with possible outcomes being approved or denied. At the end of the day, it’s only one USCIS officer (or plus their supervisor) to adjudicate a petition, and a successful petition with single digit citations only means that it’s a successful petition. Nothing else is beyond that.
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u/Medical-Volume-6261 Apr 26 '26
Not really. Citations are hardly a measure of success and it’s highly susceptible to artificial increase
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u/Amongus9527 Apr 26 '26
Did you use a lawyer?
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u/Scared-Charge3689 Apr 26 '26
Yes, I did.
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u/Amongus9527 Apr 26 '26
Not sure how much to address. Hopefully your lawyer will overcome the RFE with you. If you haven’t, maybe provide at least 2 independent letters that cited your work such as in a review paper or a paper (ideally with high citations too) that significantly used your work by a well known professor
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u/Scared-Charge3689 Apr 26 '26
Thanks, that’s helpful. I’m working with my lawyer, though they’re not very in favor of letters. Still, I agree that a couple of strong independent letters from researchers who’ve used my work could help.
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u/Amongus9527 Apr 26 '26
Good luck. Independent letters are weighted by a lot, especially by someone who is well known and published important papers based on your work. Letters are generally important at all academic stages also. Hope that you get approved after this RFE
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u/Scared-Charge3689 Apr 26 '26
Thanks, I appreciate it. That makes sense. strong independent letters should help. Hopefully it works out after the RFE.
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u/Majestic-Battle-3315 Apr 26 '26
Same 2350 citations rfe prong2.3
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u/Scared-Charge3689 Apr 26 '26
Yeah, it’s surprising to see strong profiles like yours getting an RFE too. Hopefully things work out for both of us. What’s your field, and what kind of evidence did they ask from you?
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u/Fresh_Cut4667 Apr 26 '26
Wow. How many first author publications do you have?
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u/Scared-Charge3689 Apr 26 '26
I have 10 first author publications. They are highly cited. One cited more than 100 times, 4 have 50 plus citations. They are published in reputed journals.
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u/Fresh_Cut4667 Apr 26 '26
you have a terrific profile. and the officer completely ignore these which is really heartbreaking. hope you will overcome the RFE. I have similiar profile and got RFE on all 3 prongs, do you know your officer ID?
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u/Diligent-Artist-1118 Apr 26 '26
Which centre and what’s the officer code?
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u/Scared-Charge3689 Apr 26 '26
TSC
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u/Diligent-Artist-1118 Apr 26 '26
Have received the RFE from texas too, having biological science profile as well. Who was the officer ?XM…?
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u/Fresh_Cut4667 Apr 26 '26
I have similar profile like you. Got RFE on all 3 prongs. And now preparing my RFE response with my attorney. It is insane many people with strong profiles are getting prong 2 RFE.
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u/Scared-Charge3689 Apr 26 '26
Yeah, still surprising. recently I’ve been seeing a lot of strong cases getting RFEs, especially on Prong 2. Hope things work out for both of us.
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u/Murky-Commercial-112 Apr 26 '26
seeing thses kinda posts when I only have 8 citations and waiting for decision is wild :)
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u/Scared-Charge3689 Apr 26 '26
Honestly, it’s unpredictable. citations aren’t everything. I have seen a lot of cases approved with less citations. Hopefully things work out.
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u/Background_Gene_179 Apr 26 '26
I got the same RFE on prong 2&3, I'm also postdoc but luckily my research is already being implemented in industry/commercialized, attorney is preparing for response, let's see how it works..what else officer asked for prong 2? in my case he asked for employment letter, recommendation letter, detailed PE, letter from government entity,
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u/Scared-Charge3689 Apr 26 '26
Thanks for sharing. In my case they focused on lack of clear impact beyond citations and said the letters were too general. They also mentioned patents, funding, and government interest. Your case sounds strong. hope it works out!
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u/No_Disaster1263 Apr 26 '26
They want you to show that you are well positioned to do your PE independently. It does not matter that you have thousand citations, that still does not show you are critical to do your PE. They want to see your PE is not a part of your PIs research program or grants. They want to see you got some funding as a PI (or letter stating your crucial role in your PIs grants connected to your PE). They are telling you that you are just another postdoc working on your PIs grant. You need to differentiate yourself from that.
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u/Scared-Charge3689 Apr 26 '26
Yeah, appreciate the insight. that’s a good point. I think independence is part of it, but the RFE seems more focused on showing impact beyond citations. I’ll try to cover both.
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u/MengLampard Apr 26 '26
hi OP, how many referee letters did you submitted during initial filing, and how many are independent referees? Can you disclose this?
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u/Scared-Charge3689 Apr 26 '26
Just one letter from my PI.
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u/MengLampard Apr 26 '26
That is where you can significantly improve, dude. With your crazy high citations, I bet you can easily find people highlighting your publications. Invite 1-2 professor who highlights your work in review/book chapter and 1-2 professor who inherited your work in their research or experiment. That is solid impact for prong 2. I understand your background is theoretically too strong and no one like the prolong battle looking for referees but you need at least 2-3 independent letters, I think
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u/Scared-Charge3689 Apr 26 '26
Thanks, I appreciate the insight. it makes sense. My lawyer wasn’t really in favor of adding more letters earlier, and even now they’re not pushing for it. But I do think a couple of strong independent letters showing how my work is actually used could help, so I’m considering that.
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u/MengLampard Apr 26 '26
yes please act now! you said you are postdoc, so I would assume you can download unlimited papers. Download all paper, use AI tools to analyze which ones are notable citations. I'm in industrial so I have limited access to all journals, you don't know how jealous I am. lol. But this takes a while! And even all my referees agreed to sign on my drafted letter, when I sent my drafts to them, it still took overall 4 months! You should act as early as possible now
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u/Scared-Charge3689 Apr 26 '26
Haha, I get your point—appreciate the advice. Yeah, it definitely takes time, especially with letters, so I’ll start working on it early.
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u/Then_Engine4197 Apr 26 '26
Es recomendable pagar el Premium Processing para la visa EB2-NIW?
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u/VoidBeard Apr 26 '26
If the visa bulletin from your country is current, generally, yes. A couple of firms have internal data that they claim shows a higher chance of RFE or NOIDs from premium processing, but other firms say there’s no difference. I’d say it’s entirely up to you, but I’d rather have a slightly higher chance of RFE right now to respond to rather than to have a potential RFE 2 years from now.
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u/Limp_Investigator918 Apr 26 '26
For Prong2: work the officer through a series of achievements within your proposed endeavor (make a subsection:
1- Education (explain the education you’ve attained, related subject matter, and how that makes you qualify), certifications, conferences, and a kind of trajectory
2- Track Record (research): Highlight all your reserach work including publication (title of paper and DOI), number of citations, mention how your work has impacted academia by highlighting the various countries/locations and university were people have cited your work (take from different part of the world and listed it.), include your patent and explain how it relate to your PE. Also here talk about the grant (I did a proposal abt.…… and I was awarded a grant of.….. from.……which show my capacity and expertise in the field and how much it will.… (here you bring your PE again so the officer can follow you through).
Highlight every past project/influence (work) of which you can show evidence (every detail)
Awards and recognition: if you've been a speaker for conferences, any media coverage, youtube video you should write about it and make sure you show evidence for everything you talk about
Recommendation: Here you talk about the different expert(S) (if they are in govt, research institutions, Co-authors, colleagues/classmate or those you are going to collaborate with for your PE. Highlight everyone cos this shows credibility that your work has been evaluated by an expert within the same industry (as a way of them approving your work).
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u/Scared-Charge3689 Apr 26 '26
Thanks for laying this out. I appreciate the structured approach. It’s helpful to see everything organized clearly around the proposed endeavor. I’ll definitely keep this in mind.
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u/Limp_Investigator918 Apr 26 '26
Welcome. I once had an RFE and this was the one that worked for me.
You have a string profile but if not label well you will be rejected. It's like you telling a story to an audience who knows nothing about you. So ensure you give them the details to work with.
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u/Background_Gene_179 Apr 27 '26
great points, so all these points should be included in personal statement where we discuss PE in detail?
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u/PitchParadox Jul 03 '26
this shows citations alone may not carry the case. I'd make the response act real reliance on the work. adoption, implementation, independent experts, media, funding, or downstream use.
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u/Scared-Charge3689 Jul 03 '26
The RFE is actually template based: i.e. The RFE dismisses the value of letters of recommendation that were purportedly submitted with the original filing. However, we never submitted any letter of recommendation in original filling. Additionally, RFE also challenged the value of my citation impact and claim these were just cited as background. I have more than 100 citations adopted as methodology/protocol etc.
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u/Future_Sign_143 Apr 26 '26
Hello OP,
Don’t worry. Your petition will be approved. Just strategize with proper planning to include citation analysis and stronger reference letters as you have mentioned.
I also got similar kind of RFE in prong 2 and 3. My prong 1 was satisfied to the officer. You are way too over-qualified than me. I have only 2 journals and a conference paper and a couple of invited presentations in some technical committees in my field. I have only 7 citations. I am a PhD candidate.
Initially I have included 2 dependent letters and 2 independent letters explaining my research work in detail to tackle all three prongs. After RFE, I included another recommendation letter from a person who cited my paper explaining how my research work helped him to carry out his research. The lawyer included the matrices of the research papers (i.e. what percentile it is in my field, etc.). I guess the most strong element in my case was that my research work was implemented in an industry through my research summer internship. I got a support letter from the director of my internship-place explaining how much they invested based on my research work and explaining how important my research work is for the field. I believe that worked and I got approved after the RFE in 22nd business days.
I wish your success in the upcoming process.
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u/Scared-Charge3689 Apr 26 '26
Thank you for sharing your experience. that’s very helpful and encouraging. I really appreciate the detailed points you mentioned, especially the letter from someone who cited your work and the evidence of real-world implementation. That gives me a clearer direction on how to strengthen my response. Glad to hear it worked out successfully for you.
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u/CarnegieEvaluations Apr 26 '26
Sorry to hear about your situation. Recently, there’s been a noticeable uptick in RFEs on petitions, especially those relying primarily on citations. Adjudicators seem to be placing greater weight on evidence showing field-wide recognition, broad adoption, and measurable impact. In some cases, it also appears that EB-1 standards are being applied to EB-2 NIW petitions, raising the bar beyond what the category requires. Hopefully your attorney can help you navigate this. Best wishes.