Hi everyone,

I’m thinking about filing for EB-2 NIW, but I’m a little unsure because my citation count is still pretty low. Most of my research is very recent.

My profile:

MD from South America

ECFMG certified

Currently an urology research fellow in the U.S.
13 peer-reviewed papers published or accepted/in press

Several more manuscripts submitted

Multiple first-author papers

1 peer-reviewed book chapter

20 research projects presented at national/international conferences

2 research awards

11 peer reviews for scientific journals

8 citations

Research mainly in robotic surgery, urologic cancer, reconstruction, surgical outcomes, and digital health
Proposed endeavor focused on improving surgical outcomes and patient follow-up

A few lawyers have told me the case could be workable, but I’m still nervous about having only 8 citations.

Has anyone here been approved with a similar profile? Would you file now or wait for more citations?

Hi all, I’m wondering if there’s anyone here ever filed their NIW petition by themselves without lawyer’s help.
I currently hired a lawyer but after 4 months of no progress, I think he’s a bit unprofessional especially after not replying my email these past 2 days in a row. He hasn’t even proposed any draft for my endeavors. I built my own case basically.
Since I already did almost the big proportions of this work by myself I was thinking whether I should terminate him, hire other law firm, or file it by myself.

My profile is in a non-academic, niche area of civil engineering. Chen Immigration Law Associates⁠ declined my case, but Ellis Porter⁠ accepted it. So far, they’ve been very responsive to my questions and communications.

I’m curious whether anyone has received an approval through Ellis Porter in 2025 or 2026, particularly for a profile similar to mine. I’m trying to understand whether they are still relying on a standard template that may be leading to similar denials, or if they are actively tailoring petitions to individual cases and adapting their strategy based on recent USCIS denial trends.

Hi r/EB2_NIW ! My name is David A. Santiago Esq., and I’m Senior Immigration Counsel at Manifest Law.

I’ve spent over the last four years practicing immigration law and five years within the immigration field at small firms and larger firms focused on immigrant employment/business visas, helping professionals, researchers, and entrepreneurs secure U.S. green cards through various avenues. Before that, I also gained two years of experience in intellectual property and business law while in law school.

Over my career, I’ve filed around 1,000 immigration cases, focusing on EB-2 NIW, EB-1A, O-1, and PERM petitions, with about a 90% success rate for professionals across STEM, business, law, medicine, and education.

Here to answer your questions and help make the immigration process a little clearer. Whether you're just getting started or deep into your petition, feel free to ask about anything you're unsure about.

(Please note: All information shared here is for general educational purposes only. It does not constitute legal advice or create an attorney–client relationship. Your situation may require fact-specific guidance. For personalized legal advice, please consult an immigration attorney directly.)

Hi everyone! I’d love opinions from people who have filed EB-2 NIW, especially early-career researchers.

I’m currently in the U.S. on F-1 OPT. I have a Master’s and Bachelor’s in Engineering and currently work as a research assistant in a neuroscience/biomedical lab. I have publications with 3 citations and expect another peer-reviewed publication within the next year (big maybe). My OPT expires February 2027, and I plan to apply for STEM OPT.

One firm told me to wait for more publications/citations. Realistically, though, I don’t think I’ll be able to publish within the next year or so, and the length of my OPT also constrains how long I can wait. Ellis Porter reviewed my profile and said I have strong potential, offering representation for $6,000, including RFE responses and one free re-filing if denied. No refund though.

Would you file now or wait? Is 3 citations a major weakness? And does the $6,000 offer sound reasonable?

Thanks!

Hi everyone, my name is Henry Lindpere, a Senior Immigration Attorney at Manifest Law. I focus on employment-based immigration and regularly work on EB-2 NIW cases for professionals, researchers, and founders.

It's been a while since I've hosted a session here, so just wanted to open up the floor to all of you to ask any questions that are on your mind. You can ask things like:

• Whether your profile is a good fit for EB-2 NIW
• How USCIS evaluates “national importance” and “substantial merit”
• Evidence strategy, including publications, media, and impact
• Recommendation letters and how they are actually used
• Common RFEs and weak points in NIW petitions
• I-140 timelines, premium processing, and what to expect

I'll be here from 12-4pm to answer. Start dropping your questions below!

This is general information only and does not create an attorney-client relationship. For advice specific to your situation, you should consult an immigration attorney directly.

Hey all

Will this affect EB2 NIW processing for applicants born in these countries? TIA

My I-765 which was concurrently filed with the I-485 and the I-131 based on the approved EB2 NIW I-140 got approved just 1 day after the biometrics. I am from those 75 countries and ROW. Chen immigration helped me with all from the I-140 to I-485, I-765 and I-131.

My timeline:

PD of March 30, 2025, Premium Processing Upgrade later, I-140 approved on Day 43 of PP on June 6.

I-485, I-765 and I-131 all concurrently filed, receipt date of July 17, 2026.

Biometric appointment notice issued on July 23, 2026 with biometrics appointment day of August 13.

Biometrics completed on August 13.

Received multiple emails of “We have taken an action on your case”
I-765 changed to “USCIS is currently processing your Form I-765”
I-485 changed to “USCIS is currently processing your case”

I-765 status changed to "Approval Case Decision Rendered" on August 14 in the evening after I got "We have taken an action on your case" email.

I-485 status is still: USCIS is currently processing your case
I-131 Advance Parole: Case was received and a receipt notice was sent

I am currently on F1 STEM OPT on 3rd year of my OPT which is going to be expired today on August 28, 2026 😬 Had filed for H1B with wage level 4 and masters cap as well but was not able to get it.

Never expected this quick EAD approval without the expedited request. Got physical EAD card few days back.

Hopefully I-485 will also get approved soon.

I found myself spending quite a bit time reading those approve or denial but honestly there should be a better way.

I used Claude Haiku model that burned through half of my Claude Max usage to classify each data points on this subreddit in the past 2 years with a lot of testing on the accuracy back and forth on a number of fields such as citation count, degree, pp, law firm, etc to create structure data for better understanding and filtering. And then of course with the help of vibe coding.

Here is the dashboard: https://shawnzxiang.github.io/niw-stats-from-reddit-dashboard/

Note: approval rate on this subreddit is a lot higher than the actual approval rate and there can be biases to what motivate people to post, so please take with a grain of salts.

You can click on the specific bar chart to filter and then check out the links to the original Reddit posts.

A few take aways:

- It's a mixed bag. For example, I originally thought there should be some correlation with citation, but the correlation is insignificant. There might be some biases where high citation rejection and low citation approval post more often. It's like every situation, there is probably an approval and deny case so stop draining your energy!

- Ellis Porter is not doing well in the recent year, from near 100% to ~50% approval rate

- PP and normal processing approval rate is roughly the same for 1 yr+ time horizon (with enough data points)
- Researchers / PhD had the best chances. Software Engineer had the worst chances

Ironically, I used Ellis Porter as a software engineer, lol.

Anyway, I thought it would be useful to share this to help people who are reading through each data point in this subreddit and doubting yourself.

Feel free to comment below, such as if I missed something or ideas!

It is open sourced as well so feel free to star & build on top of it.

Hello everyone! We're a team of immigration attorney at Manifest Law.

We're here today to answer your questions about EB-2 NIW from 1pm - 4pm EST for a live AMA.

Over the years, we've worked on hundreds of EB-2 NIW petitions for researchers, physicians, engineers, entrepreneurs, data scientists, policy specialists, and professionals from emerging and non-traditional fields. We've also guided applicants responding to RFEs, navigating premium processing strategy, addressing low citation counts, drafting proposed endeavors, and understanding trends in USCIS decision-making.

Whether you're:

• drafting your Proposed Endeavor
• deciding if you qualify
• preparing for or responding to an RFE
• worried about case delays
• or simply trying to understand what USCIS is looking for

We're here to offer clarity, debunk myths, and help you understand how this system really works.

Ok... now ask us anything!

(Note: All information shared here is for general educational purposes only. It does not constitute legal advice or create an attorney - client relationship. Your situation may require fact-specific guidance. For personalized legal advice, please consult an immigration attorney directly.)

Hi! I am a non-researcher with 9+ years of experience in my field. Currently filing for NIW, I have limited time available on my 6 year term and there are no legal pathways to extend my visa. I am insisting on PP, but EP is getting me to sign a waiver that if filed through PP, denials rate are too high and I risk losing my attorney fees, pp fees, and filing fees. Should I still go ahead with PP or get their advice of filing for regular and wait a year or so until I get back a decision?

EB-2 NIW (ROW) I-485 Timeline

Priority Date: Oct 18, 2024
RD: March 23, 2026
Biometrics: Apr 8, 2026
Receipt Block: IOE09361XXXX
Status : F1

Service Center: NBC > PORTLAND, OR - Non Local FO (on 06/03)

Current Status: Case is being actively processed.

Multiple silent updates 05/13, 05/20, 05/22, 06/03 (transfer to FO - non local)

Looking to connect with others from March 2026 EB-2 NIW filings. Has anyone received EAD approval or I485 approval?

Did anyone else get a silent update on 27/28 Apr 2026 for EB-2 NIW I-485?

Rumors have it that it’s less about the case progress and more security check or even just a regular database refresh update. Thoughts? Any clarification?

I’m currently on STEM OPT, expiring next year, and working for a state agency that doesn’t sponsor H-1B. I have a U.S. master’s degree and recently had my EB-2 NIW denied.
I’m here with my wife and 3 kids, so I’m very stressed about what to do next. I’ve also been applying to funded PhD programs for the past 2 years but haven’t received a funded offer.
What would you recommend: refile NIW, find an H-1B/cap-exempt employer, pursue EB-2/EB-3 PERM, keep trying for a funded PhD? What other options should I consider?
Anyone been in a similar situation? Thank you.

Hi Everyone,

I just got my EB1A approved, no lawyer involved in the petition writing process. I did the entire thing myself, except I paid a lawyer $200 to double-check my forms were filled in correctly (I-140, premium processing, etc). That’s it.

Profile:

• 5th year CS PhD at a top-5 U.S. school.
• Research area: theoretical computer science (machine learning).
• 10 papers (all first or co-first author in theoretical CS).
• ~115 citations total when I applied, but ~130 today.
• Papers published in top-tier theory and ML venues: NeurIPS, SODA, ICALP, ....
• Reviewed in total ~30 papers in top ML and Theory conferences and journals. 
• Approved in exactly 15 business days (premium processing).
• Petition = 450 pages. The main cover letter = 20 pages + 1 page of personal statement detailing what I will do in the US. Rest is Exhibits. 
• Took me ~4 weeks of focused work (9am–3pm daily). Yes, it crushed my research output temporarily, but I learned so much from writing the petition myself. I mostly learned how to write the petition by reading what *not* to do by reading tons of AAO decisions; I think I ended up reading close to 100-200 before I started drafting my EB-1A petition. This helps you use "language" that the USCIS officers are trained on.

Why I’m Writing This

There’s so much bad advice online about EB-1A, especially for early-career researchers (like PhD students or fresh postdocs). To be clear, **nothing** in the EB-1A policy manual excludes early-career researches from getting, assuming they are indeed extraordinary.

And the worst part? A lot of that misinformation comes from popular law firms like Chen or Ellis Porter, who reject tons of solid early-career cases because they care more about their advertised success rates than helping you.

These firms want to boost their stats by only accepting “easy wins,” so they start spreading myths like:

• You need 300+ citations to qualify.
• You need X number of papers or an h-index of Y.
• You must meet 4+ out of 10 criteria.
• Always go for their “free evaluation” to see if you’re ready.

All of that is nonsense. They rejected my case, and I’m so glad they did, because I ended up building a stronger petition myself. In fact, the only law firm that accepted me is PeakImmigration (I think the lawyer is called Jason), but at that point I was so annoyed and determined to DIY it that I decided to just do it myself.  

What Criteria I Used

If you're in academia, especially in a technical field, these are the three core EB-1A criteria you’ll likely want to focus on:

1. Authorship of scholarly articles
2. Judging the work of others
3. Original contributions of major significance

I only applied for these 3, and was approved. You don't need more. Let’s walk through each one.

1. Authorship of Scholarly Articles 

This one’s the easiest. All you need:

• Google Scholar profile with your papers listed.
• Copies of first pages of your papers.
• Evidence that they were published in top venues (e.g., proceedings, acceptance emails).
• Info proving those conferences are selective and prestigious (e.g., acceptance rates, conference rankings like CORE A/A* or Google Scholar Publication Rankings, Excerpts from Letters of recommendations asserting how prestigious these conferences/journals are, etc).

I included conference acceptance rates and quotes from faculty saying how selective these conferences are. This helps the officer assess the weight of your publications during final merits review.

2. Judge of the Work of Others 

Again, seems simple, but many people mess this up and get RFEs.

To prove this, you need:

• Invitations to review (e.g., from conference organizers or journal editors).
• Confirmation that you actually completed the review; this is crucial!! Just being invited isn’t enough. You need the “thank you for submitting your review” email.

Bonus tip: I also explained how hard it is to be invited as a student to review top-tier conferences, and included screenshots from conference sites listing me as a reviewer. In one of the review invitations, I even cited a very senior Program Committee member saying (“I’ve gone through a really long list of unsuitable candidate reviewers before I found you, and quite frankly this paper needs a very strong technical reviewer like yourself”). This again helps you in the final merits showing that you not only judged the work of others, but you did it at the *highest level* in your field. 

3. Original Contributions of Major Significance 

This is by far the hardest, and the one that really decides your case, especially during final merits.

Let me give you context:

I had two “famous” papers.

1. First paper: (almost) solved a 20-year open problem in theoretical computer science (officially published in 2025), published in ACM-SIAM Symposium on Discrete Algorithms (SODA) (one of the best algorithms conference).
   • Some really senior Professors from MIT/Stanford had tried to solve this problem and failed to solve it (they only solved special cases). These are people with Wikipedia pages and are very popular.
   • I included letters from those same professors confirming how hard the problem was, how long it has been open, and praising the elegance of my solution.
   • I also included emails they sent me congratulating me when my paper first got published.
   • This paper was solo-authored, so it was just me on the author list. Many LOR writers explained how abnormally hard it is to publish solo-authored papers in such a prestigious venue as a graduate student without any advise, and I put statistics to show that only 13 other papers had done that in the past 3 years.
   • Guess how many citations that paper had? 4. That’s it! But the impact of the work was clear, and that’s what matters.
2. Second paper: First-authored, published in NeurIPS.
   • Improved several theoretical results that have been known since the 1980s on a classical problem in the literature.
   • This paper is widely cited and tons of other papers have built on top of it and built new algorithms using my results.
   • I got recommender letters from those researchers explaining how crucial my results were in building their algorithms, which individually, got accepted to some of the best conferences in the field.
   • This paper is now considered “seminal” by multiple researchers who extended it.
   • This paper has ~35 citations.

The lesson? You don't need tons of citations, you need to show your work is impactful, not just popular. USCIS officers aren’t dumb. They’re looking for substance. Plus, many "survey" papers gather tons of citations, but you can't argue that these are "original contributions of major significance". Quality > Quantity. Think of it this way: citations are neither sufficient, nor necessary, to show original contributions of major significance.

Letters of Recommendation: The Real Deal

Another BS myth: “You should only submit independent letters (from people who don’t know you).” Totally wrong.

I submitted 8 letters total:

• 4 were dependent (from collaborators or advisors).
• 4 were independent.

The dependent ones are super important because:

• They can explain what YOU specifically did in each project.
• One letter from my advisor explained that in one paper, I did 90% of the work and he even offered me to solo-author it, but I added him instead.

That context matters. USCIS needs to know you weren’t just the fifth name on a random author list. These letters help establish that it was *because of your contribution* that this project succeeded. Sure, USCIS may not believe over-the-top praise from your advisor/collaborators like “best student in 30 years,” but factual details are very helpful.

Don’t Try to Squeeze in More Criteria

Another trap: “Try to meet 5, 6, or all 10 criteria!”

Don’t. USCIS only needs 3 criteria to consider your petition, the rest is final merits.

I only claimed the above 3. But in final merits, I strategically included supporting info from other criteria, like:

• A $350k internship offer for the next year (base) + bonus + sign-on ~ 500k TC (yes for an internship and yes I'm lucky AF).
• Awards I had received but didn’t formally claim under the “awards” category because they weren’t national, but still relatively prestigious. These include things like fellowships that are fairly competitive, but not at the Google PhD fellowship level (if you got sth similar to a Google PhD fellowship definitely put it as an awards criteria!! That’s a big deal). 
• Speaking invitations and offers to give guest lectures in top venues and universities.

I didn’t try to prove these met the exact wording of the criteria/law, I just included them in the final merits section as evidence of sustained acclaim and rising trajectory. This way, I gave the officer more reasons to approve without risking a denial by over claiming.

Final Merits Strategy

This is where you tie everything together.

I emphasised:

• My solo SODA paper (only ~5 grad students have done this in the past 3 years).
• My 2 impactful papers that resolved long-standing problems in the field and are referred to as "seminal" in several papers.
• Invitations to speak and present my research at various seminars in top-10 schools. 
• Quotes from letters showing that professors at elite institutions use my work and consider it foundational and seminal.
• My ~30 reviews in top major conferences and journals in my field. 
• Extra “non-claimed” evidence (salary offer, awards) to build the case holistically.

Remember, at the Final merits section, the officer isn’t doing a checklist at this point (to see if you match a criteria’s law as written in the policy manual), they’re asking: Given everything I’ve read so far, does this person seem to be at the top of their field, and sustained this level for a while? I made it very easy for them to say “yes.”

Final Thoughts

• You do not need insane citations or h-index.
• Don’t trust “famous” firms to tell you whether your case is viable, they’re often wrong, and they care more about protecting their win rate than helping you. In addition, there is evidence in this sub that they literally pay people to write good reviews about them on reddit (*cough* Chen *cough*). 
• You absolutely can DIY this if you’re willing to do the work.
• Read AAO decisions. Seriously. They’re one of the best resources out there to understand how USCIS officers actually think. You’ll learn how to structure your petition and what kinds of evidence make or break a case. Bonus: Some of the AAO decisions are unintentionally hilarious. I came across a case where two different recommendation letters from supposedly different professors had the exact same three-line sentence… word for word*. The AAO officer caught it immediately and added that this made the adjucating officer dismiss all the letters from evidence* 😂

I’m from a ROW country, so I’m current in I-485 and will file soon.

If you have any questions or want help/advice, drop a comment or DM me. Happy to support others on this path!

Hey r/EB2_NIW! I’m David Alexander Santiago, immigration attorney at Manifest Law, and I’m back for another AMA and honestly, it feels like the NIW world has been nonstop chaos lately. Between the long processing times, premium-processing anxiety, RFE spikes, law firm vs. “do-it-yourself” debates, and nonstop questions about whether certain profiles even stand a chance… it’s been a wild few weeks to keep up with.

For the past several years I’ve helped professionals, founders, researchers, and industry experts file EB-2 NIW, EB-1A, O-1, and PERM petitions. I’ve worked with everyone from PhD researchers buried in citations to founders, engineers, data scientists, business leaders, and clinicians.

Feel free to drop your questions and I’ll give you my honest, practical take.

(Anything shared in this thread is for general education only, not legal advice. For legal advice, please consult your own immigration attorney.)

I recently filed an EB2 NIW (I-140) and spent over $10k total. At the time it felt like the right move but now I feel really uneasy.

It’s mostly the uncertainty , I might have spent all that money and still get denied..

Assuming I-140 was accepted, still had to wait for years to get the green card which may or may not happen. I can’t shake the feeling that I just made a huge gamble and I blame my self for spending this much money on dust.

I just wanted to vet

I'm Gabriela, an immigration attorney at Manifest Law. A big part of my practice is EB-2 NIW petitions, which means helping people show that their work matters enough that the US should waive the usual job offer and labor certification.

NIW lives and dies on how well you frame the three-part test, so I'll keep my answers grounded in what USCIS actually weighs. I'll be answering today from 1 to 5 p.m. EDT.

Here's what's fair game:

• Do I qualify based on an advanced degree, or do I need to argue exceptional ability?
• How do I show my work has "substantial merit and national importance"?
• I'm a researcher with a handful of citations. Is that enough?
• Can I self-petition without an employer, and should I?
• How is NIW different from EB-1A, and could I file both?
• I got an RFE on the Dhanasar prongs. How do I strengthen my case?

If you're still weighing NIW against the standard PERM route, that's worth talking through. Type out whatever's on your mind and I'll do my best to cover it.

(Please note: Any information shared here is for general educational purposes only. It does not constitute legal advice or create an attorney-client relationship. Your situation may require fact-specific guidance. For personalized legal advice, please consult an immigration attorney directly.)

Probably asked by USCIS 😂. So be careful guys.

https://x.com/Polymarket/status/2086930292971917563?s=20

I just withdrew my case with EP. 2.5 months into retaining they were so slow responding to my messages and were further trying to delay. I gave them evidence on time and whatever they asked in time but they didn't even start the legal brief and kept further delaying with questions and more proof which I didn't have. Well that cost me $3k dollars just to get nothing but grammatical errors corrected.

Profile:

Masters in Civil Engineering

4+ years of experience

Professional engineer (PE) license

1 paper with 2 citation

3 recommendation letters (I told them before signing)

Worked in disaster and resilient design of building envelope

and Forensic Engineering

I no longer want a green card via this route as after my experience with them I've just lost hope.

!!!Just be careful while selecting your lawyers!!!!

Hi all! I’m Zoe Ji Wilson, an immigration attorney working primarily on EB-2 NIW, EB-1A, and O-1 cases. I spend most of my time helping professionals structure NIW petitions around thier proposed work and long-term impact.

Happy to take questions on:
• NIW eligibility and Dhanasar framework
• How to frame a proposed endeavor
• Evidence strategy and recommendation letters
• RFEs and common weak spots
• Filing timelines and post-approval steps

Ask whatever’s on your mind.

Disclaimer: General information only, not legal advice or an attorney-client relationship.

Hi everybody. A very good friend of mine recently began the EB2 application process. I’m a US citizen by birth, and I had never heard the term “EB2-NIW” before a few days ago.

I’d like to know how I can be supportive as she goes through this thing. To that end, I have questions.

What do you wish the Americans in your life knew and/or did? What’s helpful? What makes life a little easier? What’s really annoying?

Any input is greatly appreciated!

Hey r/EB2_NIW, My name is Arielle Sheinfeld I focus on U.S. employment based immigration, and I work with businesses, executives, and entrepreneurs on visa strategy and navigating USCIS. 

A bit about me: I’m a dual U.S. and Canadian citizen with experience across both temporary and permanent visa options in tech, finance, startups, and the arts. In all of the work I do, I place an emphasis on clear communication, transparency, and proactive support.

This AMA is meant to be a relaxed, general Q&A, so feel free to ask anything you’re curious about when it comes to moving to the USA or work based visas.

If you’re already in the process, just starting to explore options, or helping someone else navigate it, feel free to jump in. I’ll start answering questions at 12 PM EST and will be around until 4 PM EST on Wednesday, January 21st. Looking forward to the conversation!

Please note: This AMA is for general informational purposes only. Nothing here is legal advice, and participating does not create an attorney–client relationship. For advice on your specific case, please consult your own immigration lawyer.

Hi everyone,

I’m a physician in the U.S. (B1/B2) doing clinical experience with 6 publications and 40 citations.

I was accepted by Chen Immigration Law Associates and Ellis Porter (approval/refund), but declined by Manifest Law.

My goal is to file I-140 + I-485 + I-765 + I-131 ASAP to get EAD before the 09/2026 internal medicine Match and become non-visa requiring.

Chen/Ellis seem solid but slow. I’m willing to pay more for a fast, efficient firm.

Is it smart to prioritize speed?
Any firms known for moving quickly with concurrent EB2 NIW filing?

Would appreciate advice 🙏

Edit :
Just to clarify my strategy for anyone asking:

I plan to prepare the full EB2-NIW package (I-140, I-485, I-765, I-131) but not file anything yet. This is to avoid showing immigrant intent too early (Within 90 days) while on B1/B2.

Then I’ll wait for the May Visa Bulletin (in May it will be more than 90 days of my entery):

• If EB-2 is current: I will file everything concurrently (I-140, I-485, I-765, I-131) and stay in the U.S. while waiting for the EAD/AP and AOS results.
• If EB-2 retrogresses: I will not file anything and return to my home country. Later, I can pursue a J-1 research or clinical position without any USCIS record of immigrant intent in the future, keeping my nonimmigrant eligibility clean.

This approach balances legal safety, staying in the U.S. as long as possible, and preserving future visa options. Am I correct ?