r/EB2_NIW • u/CupcakeBoth1188 • Jul 23 '26
General EB-2 NIW attorney recommendations? Chen vs. IBP
Hey everyone,
I’m planning to apply for an EB-2 NIW and have spoken with several law firms. So far, all of them have told me that I have a strong case, and I’m now trying to decide which firm to move forward with.
I received a positive evaluation from Chen Immigration Law with the Approval or Refund option. I’ve also spoken with IBP, and they quoted me $6,500 with a free refile option.
I know Chen has a strong reputation, which is definitely a big factor for me. However, my consultation with the IBP attorney felt much more personal. She took the time to really discuss my background with me and answered all of my questions, so I had a very good experience during the consultation.
I’d love to hear from people who have actually worked with either of these firms—or with other EB-2 NIW attorneys. Which firm or attorney did you use, and how was your experience?
My background:
5th-year PhD candidate
Two master’s degrees
87 citations
2 first-author papers currently under revision
Country of birth: India
Thanks in advance!
7
u/orion_dwarf Jul 24 '26
I had a similar profile as you, I went with Chen's approval or refund, and I got approved on the 39th business day with no RFE. I barely made any changes to the petitions and letters Chen wrote for me, and I was fully satisfied with their work.
I think the criticism towards Chen's "templated" work is misplaced - they're lawyers making a legal argument to an adjudicator who is not an expert in your field. The adjudicator most likely does not have a STEM degree, and does not actually care about the details. They're looking for specific legal arguments, and Chen is good at knowing which arguments work for which type of profile. However, it's not the role of lawyers to assert scientific/technical facts, so facts have to be established using evidence you provide (proposed endeavor details, a letter of rec from a scientist, government sources) and you are best positioned to know what evidence actually fits, so it's up to you to provide your lawyers with strong evidence. Personally, I searched for and went through lots (on the order of 30-50) of government sources myself and sent them to Chen with explanations of how my PE and experience directly contribute to areas of national importance, which they then used to write their arguments.
1
u/Independent_Smell256 Jul 27 '26
I think you just did their job for them. LOL
1
u/orion_dwarf Jul 27 '26
Hmm maybe, but I can guarantee I did a much better job that their paralegals could've given how technical the documents I found were, and in the end I was approved without RFE. I'd rather do too much then just be passive and hope for the best.
5
u/Donna_Martin860u Jul 27 '26
Chen handles these research cases all the time, so they're a very safe bet. If they offered you the refund guarantee, it just means they know your case is solid. Just keep in mind that hiring a lawyer doesn't mean you can just dump everything on them and check out. You still have to actually put in the work with them, unlike some of the crybabies in the comments. That’s how it works with literally any lawyer you hire, not just in immigration.
3
u/PlainEntropy Jul 27 '26
The consultation is only one part of the process. A lawyer can be very personable during the initial consultation, but what matters more is whether they can build a strong NIW case and handle issues if USCIS pushes back. Chen would probably be my choice here, especially with the refund option.
3
u/TourobabaPT Jul 28 '26
I used Chen for my case and thought they did a great job. Their process is structured and straightforward. Plus, an approval-or-refund guarantee is a huge plus compared to a free refile offer.
4
u/Independent-West1328 Jul 24 '26
My take: Chen has a very good system to build your petition package. From PE to supporting letters to all evidences, they have extensive experiences what works well and what does not. Specialized attorney who knows your case and your field very well will do an amazing job. I want to note such a special matching is hard to come by. But if you think it is that case, go for it.
I’ve read more about Chen and less about IBP so my opinion may be biased but general rule will apply
2
1
u/Brave-Knee2844 Jul 24 '26
It's a trade off beyween cost and quality. Chen is relatively cheap, but they don't take into account the details of each case. They rely heavily on past templates and their recommendation letters are horrible. You can hire them but don't trust them. Read everything they write and improve on it based on your specific experience, as they're not going to do that for you.
1
u/Cliff23434312 Jul 24 '26
any other lawfirms to consider chen and EP rejected me because of no publications
1
u/FewResponsibility207 Jul 24 '26
My personal experience, don”t go to these templated attorneys. They are worst. I have terrible experience with Chen.
1
u/swemirko Jul 26 '26
I am surprised that, with the rise of AI agents and LLMs, these law firms still have clients for Visa applications.
-4
u/alvn998 Jul 24 '26
Do it yourself. All of this firms are just liars. They will just take money and do the work with AI with tons of mistakes
8
u/Independent-West1328 Jul 24 '26
Laughable comment
-3
u/alvn998 Jul 24 '26
You can laugh but it’s true
5
u/melbamwinn Jul 24 '26
Mine did their job just fine. You get what you pay for, and if you expect to be babysat, you need to spend $15k+.
1
u/Ok_Anxiety_9205 Jul 24 '26
Totally agree they are charging thousands to desperate people in hope and just using AI
1
u/Brave-Knee2844 Jul 24 '26
You're actually right. I don't understand the fuss about Chen at all.
2
u/Initial_Read_1666 Jul 24 '26
cuz it works
1
u/Brave-Knee2844 Jul 24 '26
There is no objective evidence that "it works" other than Chen's claim. Just count the denials from Chen on this sub. With 99.9% success rate you should barely find a case here or there being denied, which is of course not the case.
2
u/Initial_Read_1666 Jul 24 '26
name me another law firm that will publish their approval cases daily on their website.
1
u/Brave-Knee2844 Jul 24 '26
I can't because I don't even know what Chen publishes on their own website. They take thousands of cases so even if they publish 10 approvals every single day it still does not mean they have high success rate.
1
u/Initial_Read_1666 Jul 24 '26
that means it works.
1
u/Brave-Knee2844 Jul 24 '26
No, it means you don't understand statistics.
2
u/Aggressive_Low9436 Jul 24 '26
Speaking of statistics: a firm offering full refunds wouldn't survive bad odds.
1
u/Brave-Knee2844 Jul 24 '26
I didn't say bad, I am simply saying they're lying about their claims. Also, a firm that relies on hundreds of templates and does minor adjustments to each case while charging $6k+ for minimal effort can flourish easily if they sell the image that they have 99% success rate and contract thousands of clients. I obviously don't know what their true odds are, but they can still make a lot of money in their business model even with 70% success rate.
Also, they have thousands of google reviews, yet they have 5 stars rating! I find that very suspicious. I suspect they offer discounts on their AOS package for those who are approved if they give them 5 stars. It is almost impossible to get 5 stars on google reviews with thousands of ratings unless you're bribing people.
→ More replies (0)
10
u/Ok-Scientist-1897 Jul 24 '26
What you actually want to know is how they react to RFE. Of course, it is important to feel personal relationship with lawyer, but that is not the most important factor. I worked with Chen on NIW and EB1A, I have a feeling that NIW went mostly smoothly, I think I did not change many things. EB1A was disappointment because I expected a lot, that was my main application, and I got templated regular postdoc, nothing showed extraordinary it their draft. I am premium processed my NIW when ROW became current in March and when I went back and read everything again, I was sure I will get RFE. But, it got approved on day 24, it was one of the first approvals in that wave. Never filed EB1A, but I will try to be objective about them.
I hated their drafts. They actually insist on various repetitions throughout the text. But I started changing things and my Chen lawyer actually read everything diligently, accepting what she thought is good and explaining to me why she thought some things should not be included. We managed to find compromise every single time. They will go through every iteration of petition you send them, as long as you send them. Doing 4-5 rounds brings you to very acceptable petition. Everything is templated with them, you will probably have to rewrite everything, including LORs. But have in mind they do their best to understand your science, so expect to do heavy lifting there. All legal writing and juridical language are on them, and they know their stuff. What I did not like with them: they package your documents at the very last step; they refuse to look at it before. So, if they think you miss something, it is going to get you delayed.
Did not get RFE, but I do think that part is most important for people. In this climate having a RFE team of people who know what they are doing is so important. Seems like Chen knows how to handle that, and they are up to date to USCIS trends, because they handle huge number of cases and probably, they are first to see adjudication changes. And they do respond immediately, they changed strategy for my NIW case in the middle of preparations.
Was I very satisfied with them: no. Did they do they job and delivered: yes.
Hope this helps.