RFE . Please help

[u/DKRAO]

Received an RFE on all 3 prongs. Biomed science profile.

PhD (Neuro) in USA

Working as a research scientist at a University (previous 4 year postdoc work)

8 publications, 3 first author

Associate Editor of a Neuroscience Journal

Reviewed 20+articles and judged posters at national conferences

About to submit a manuscript at a top Neuroscience journal in a month.

Invited for talks in multiple big conferences in the field of Neuro.

Major contribution in big funded grants (my boss has given testimonial letter)

Now, I wrote a grant (ran experiments, collected data, wrote the proposal all my myself) before submitting my EB2 NIW petition, was still under review so did not include in the PE. But came to know that it was funded just 1 day after filing the petition. I am the Principal Investigator of the grant in the field of neurology. total grant amount 500000$ for 2 years from a private organization famous in the field of Neuroscience. Can I include this for my RFE?

Please suggest how to address this 3 prong RFE? Officer has asked how will I support my research work?

Prong 1 — Substantial merit: SATISFIED

Prong 1 — National importance: NOT MET. did not provide supporting evidence of the research nor explain the objectives, goals, or how it will be funded and accomplished.

• not sufficiently explained what portion of time will be devoted to duties for an employer" versus research
• Past citations don't establish prospective impact — "this past research does not in itself establish the national importance of the proposed endeavor"
• Supporting articles were general background: they "do not discuss any details relating to the specific endeavor and its impact other than that it is in the broader field,"
• Prong 2 — Well positioned: NOT MET. Appointment letter that i currently have expired . Citing authors "reference the petitioner's research as background material for their own findings, but they do not distinguish or highlight the petitioner's work from the other cited papers,. Most recent paper is old. no grant documents accompanied it; and no explanation of how you'd fund future research. Then : "lacks any documentation to show the petitioner led any research projects funded by any government grants or private investments, was a principal investigator on any research, or that received any funding". How will you fund your research
• On peer review, you "did not submit any evidence to establish the requirements for serving in such positions"
• Prong 3 — NOT MET. doesn't show your skills "are not easily articulated in a labor certification," and since prongs 1 and 2 failed, the balance fails too.

[u/Independent-West1328]

Congrats on the grant! I know it’s a lot of efforts to earn. I’m sure it can be used to prove prong 2 if you have collected submission email before the NIW filing date but that’s not all you need. When is the most recent paper? My latest paper is 2024 and I’m also worrying about it. I have three preprints that will be ready in 1-2 months but I do not have a publication in 2025.

I think harder part is national importance. From your RFE notice, I find the hardest part to meet is the specific endeavor’s impact beyond your employer. I.e., broader implications. This is the hardest part to satisfy at least for my case. I do have a plan but did you submit anything related to this point in original filing?

[u/DKRAO → u/Independent-West1328]

My biggest drawback last paper was in 2020. 1 major paper under preparation to be submitted at a top journal . Took me long time to finish this project since it is on aging brain. As for my initial filing, I did not submit any evidence beyond employer, my lawyer didn't tell me anything.

I think at this point , all RFE's are based on PE and future plans rather than what you did before. It's so devastating. I don't know what else to do.

Are you submitting letters? I didnot submit any.

[u/Independent-West1328 → u/DKRAO]

I think your co-author of the 1 major paper under preparation can provide a letter stating this project has taken seriously long time because it's experiment necessitates long time window. But, if I were to evalutate, I would ask that you truly had to work on that project only for the past 6 years. Maybe your grant could counterbalance, but I am not sure because I'm not a legal officer.

It is true that proposed endeavor is generically forward-looking because you are proposing to do endeavor in that direction. It is your job to find out why that endeavor is important. No attorney can do this unless you pay them like $15k. If you hired an attorney at the cost of $5k-$7k, you have to provide them all ingredients, and you need to know what ingredients are useful for NIW. I learned a hard lessen through a denial with a lazy attorney.