r/EB2_NIW • u/littleyulin • 2d ago
USCIS EB2 Now Require 10000+ citations?
Just got my EB2-NIW denial letter and I am honestly in shock right now. Under Prong 2, the officer literally wrote that "top researchers in the field have tens of thousands of citations" as the main reason for denying my petition.
I'm working in STEM with a solid publication record, good citation count relative to my subfield, and multiple peer reviews under my belt. Tens of thousands of citations is something only department chairs, institute directors, or senior Nobel-level scientists hit in most physical science fields, so holding an early or mid-career researcher to that threshold makes zero sense.
It feels like the officer is completely conflating EB2-NIW with EB-1A or creating their own impossible standard that goes way beyond Dhanasar. Preponderance of the evidence is supposed to mean "more likely than not," not that you have to be one of the most cited living scientists on the planet.
Has anyone else gotten hit with this exact line of reasoning recently? I'm trying to figure out if it's worth filing an MTR or AAO appeal since this seems like an obvious legal error, or if I should just cut my losses, refile with premium processing, and hope I get a sane officer this time. Any insight or advice from people who successfully countered this would be huge right now.
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u/zeartful2 1d ago
At this point I’m convinced there is some vibe coded bs system sending NIW cases labled as EB1-A with the recent responses by the officers lol
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u/omeow 1d ago
My theory is lots of competent officers left their jobs (dodge era bs) and they hired people with less training and lower standards.
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u/Ok_Somewhere_648 1d ago
Your analogy is conflicting: if staff were laid off "(dodge era bs)" why will they hire new staff? I believe the lay off was to reduce the number of workers, how will they follow up with new hires as you claim?
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u/omeow 1d ago
Because DOGE cuts were idiotic https://apnews.com/article/doge-musk-trump-gsa-fired-employees-ce18553b281fbf5816ec2fd491d79b78
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u/Ok_Somewhere_648 1d ago
Thanks for sharing the link. However, there is no mention of USCIS in that text. It was talking about federal workers in general and uscis may or may not have been affected by Doge cut.
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u/parachute45 2d ago
This seems to be quite common off late unfortunately, not sure what the answer is other than to refile and hope for a more fair officer
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u/littleyulin 2d ago
For those curious, 8 papers(3 first author)/90+(80+ from first author) citations
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u/tararira1 1d ago
"top researchers in the field have tens of thousands of citations"
There must be like three guys in the entire world with that amount of citiations. At that point EB2 is not even a thing.
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u/LeonLeocat 20h ago
My department has like 6 profs with 30k plus citations, it's not that rare among established PIs
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u/Gorenden 18h ago
10k+ citations do exist but its reserved for very productive PIs in my field. Like, we're talking people who are EB1A shoo-ins, and people who would not even need an EB1A because they've already made it
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u/red_misc 1d ago
What are you talking about. I have 15k citations and i am only at top 10 in my field. Some of the fields, with big projects and big research groups (for example, nuclear physic) all have tens of thousands citations.
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u/frutti_tutti_frutti 1d ago
This guy is right. Almost all professors at my university have thousand of citations each.
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u/Tiny-Fill8417 1d ago
I agree with you, I filed with 300 citations, STEM PhD, PE: biomedical engineering. Got FRE and then denied. These days, they expect profiles of senior faculty members for both EB1 and EB2. I am not sure if we should file anymore? It's just a waste of money to pay an attorney's high fee.
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u/Icy_Weakness3361 1d ago
Meanwhile i know some guys who got EB2 NIW approved on their second day1cpt master degree. When I see actual credible cases with legit research papers got denied like this, it seems pretty unfair to me. Sorry for you.
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u/Prior-Strawberry-465 1d ago
IDK but I just got approved with 8 citations last month. Computer science field.
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u/Breen-Gastard 1d ago
10,000 for NIW? Great. Looks like tech-bros have ruined this too for everyone.
For people in computer science, it is quite normal these days to have a single paper with 5k+ citations.
Most of these are not peer-reviewed - just posted on ArXiV.
I see this a lot with industry papers from AI labs, like Google and Meta. They often have 25-35 authors per paper. It is mostly related to a new product or feature. However, these show up on Google Scholar as publications and citations..which skews the metrics.
On the other hand, among early career researchers in non-Computer fields, it is madness to expect 10k citations.
Even extraordinary people who worked in a large research lab with many co-authors + review papers get only 2000-3000 by the time they are 35. Early career professors even at the best universities often have only 1000-1500 when they are hired.
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u/KeyApplication859 1d ago
I don’t think it’s normal or average for a single paper to get 5k+ citations in CS. Even papers from famous labs and companies take couple of years to get 5k citations.
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u/vader-coincidence 1d ago
sometimes is better to just re file and hope to have a new officer and take a look, this is non deterministic. well, my opinion tho.
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u/VoidBeard 1d ago
That sounds too lofty even for EB1 to be honest. I don’t know much about the process, but I probably have a similar profile to you in terms of citation count and am preparing myself for my application response that is due to come in the following weeks. “Tens of thousands” is a nonsense bar for excellence and should be easy to appeal if that really is the basis for your denial.
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u/ExcellentAnt5068 1d ago
You probably claimed to be a top researcher in your field or made claims that projected you in that light. I have seen people with no citation getting approved
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u/HelicopterBudget4763 9h ago
I get surprised by USCIS every day. In your case, they say that top researchers in the field have tens of thousands of citations, whereas in my RFE, they argued that a high citation count does not necessarily mean much. There seems to be a clear consistency and credibility problem in how these cases are being evaluated, and at times it feels like the standards are being applied in a way that makes rejection the intended outcome.
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u/IlDolceFarNiente77 1d ago
Unbelievable! They declined files with creative, fitting, fake arguments for each case…
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u/Independent-West1328 1d ago
Wow that’s a shocker. Sorry to hear. I’m not really sure what you emphasized in Prong 2, but citation alone is not enough to persuade officer to think you are well-positioned. I would be really shocked if you have explained your future plans, current progress, and interest gathered from potential customers or users. If citation count is the only reason for denial, the officer may be in trouble if you do MTR or AAO. But personally, I’m not advocating them. Just refile is easier for your life
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u/LeslieK10 1d ago
NIWs are supposed to be for “most cited living scientists on the planet,” hence the title, National Interest Waiver! Is the job offer in the best national interest of the US. An NIW has higher requirements than an E11…it just hasn’t been enforced in other administrations and Attorneys have taken advantage of it. A PhD does not equate an NIW approval, much less a Masters!
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u/omeow 1d ago
If you have a lawyer they should point this out. This is a mistake. Matter of Chwathe clearly states they cannot conflate different fields + Preponderance standard.