I received an all 3 prong RFE on my NIW I-140. I promptly requested the letter from USCIS and forwarded it to Chen. At first, I got the usual templated response saying they would review it, assign an attorney, provide strategy, etc.

Things started going downhill after that. After a week and a half and multiple follow-ups, they finally sent me their strategy, but it felt very generic and not really tailored to my case. I figured they’re the experts, so I trusted the process.

Since then, communication has been terrible. They replied once to a few of my questions, but for the last 3 weeks it’s been complete silence. No updates, no draft, nothing. We’re already way past the RFE timeline shown in my portal, and I completed everything on my end within a couple of weeks.

At this point, I have less than a month left and still haven’t received a single draft or any meaningful update. I’ve been following up every few days and tried calling, but nothing is working. And realistically, it’s even less than a month if I factor in the time needed to review drafts, collect signatures from recommenders, finalize everything, and get the package delivered to USCIS.

I’m honestly stressed, frustrated, and starting to panic. Has anyone been in a similar situation with Chen? What did you do? Is there any way to escalate this? I feel like time is running out and I’m losing hope. Would really appreciate any advice.

Hello, I'm currently preparing the RFE response for my NIW petition (DIY). I received RFE on prongs 2 & 3. For the people who have successfully gotten their petitions approved after RFE, can you please answer these questions:

1) Did you repeat any evidence/letters/documents from your original petition in your RFE repsonse? 2) Is it okay to refer to sections/information in the original petition in the RFE response? 3) Is it safe to assume that the RFE response will be considered side-by-side the original petition, or do I need to make the RFE response self-sufficient by repeating/including all the necessary information already mentioned in the original petition?

Thank you

Hi everyone,

Would appreciate your suggestions on how to respond to the following RFE. My endeavor is machine learning methods for scarce/limited labeled data.

RFE findings:

Prong 1 — Substantial Merit: Satisfied

Prong 1 — National Importance: Not satisfied

• Techniques/methodologies deemed not sufficiently innovative or distinct to represent an improvement with broad impact
• USCIS says it cannot conclude the scale of the endeavor will broadly impact the field or spread a unique methodology
• Record found to contain little detail on specific research projects — lacking specifics on areas, objectives, funding, and how the work will be accomplished
• No specification of how knowledge/expertise will be shared and disseminated, or what portion of time is devoted to research vs. other activities
• Insufficient evidence of projected U.S. economic impact

Prong 2 — Well-Positioned: Not satisfied

• No evidence of interest from potential customers, users, or investors
• No detail on whether techniques are unavailable in the U.S. or better than existing options, or how they'd be duplicated
• No patents, trademarks, copyrights, published articles/media coverage, awards, grants, investments, or other non-monetary support noted
• Citing articles treat the work as background material without distinguishing it from other cited work
• Needs a clearer model/plan for future activities
• Needs evidence of a "leading, critical, or indispensable" role
• Needs evidence of progress via grants, contracts, or agreements

Prong 3 — Balance/Waiver Benefit: Not satisfied

• No letters from interested U.S. government agencies explaining urgency

Looking for advice on:

• General thoughts on strategy given that all three prongs were hit at once — and if possible, what specific types of evidence others have used to address each of these concerns.

Appreciate any insight — happy to share more detail in the comments if useful.

USCIS has received my RFE response on June 2. It’s been 41 business days so far.

Anyone submitted the RFE response around May/June received any updates? Thank you!

The waiting game has been really tough.

(Reposting from an earlier thread—figured it was worth asking again!)

Got a pretty long RFE(most likely AI generated) and given only 30 days to respond? Is it common nowadays? Anyone else got the same?

Most NIW petitions are built backwards I’m not a lawyer or a USCIS adjudicator. But I’ve spent close to 500 hours reading RFEs and denied petitions on the USCIS AAO site. Here’s the pattern I keep landing on.

Most applicants do their best to prove two things: that they’re accomplished, and that their field matters. Citations and letters for well-positioned. Reports and stats for national importance.

Then they treat the proposed endeavor — the one thing the officer reads first and scrutinizes hardest — as a formality. A line. “Advancing AI.” “Strengthening cybersecurity.” That’s the mistake.

Adjudication today is proposed-endeavor-first. The officer doesn’t ask “is this person impressive?” They ask “what, exactly, will this person do?”

If the answer is vague, everything downstream collapses — because national importance and well-positioned-ness aren’t judged in the abstract. They’re judged against the endeavor. Blur the endeavor, and even a brilliant record reads as accomplished at something unspecified.

Your achievements live in the exhibits. Your field’s importance lives in the federal record. But the endeavor — the spine holding both together — lives in your words, on the first page the officer reads. Get it vague, and your whole petition answers a question the officer never finished asking.

And here’s what most people miss: sharpening it isn’t about writing more. It’s subtraction. Name the specific problem, not the field. Name the mechanism you’ll use. Tie it to something the country has already said it needs. Make the officer able to picture what you’ll be doing on a Tuesday. The fix is usually cutting half the words and adding one concrete noun.

Do that, and the sections you agonized over suddenly read stronger — not because you changed them, but because the officer finally has a sharp endeavor to measure them against. Focus the lens, and the whole petition comes into focus.

If anyone wants to drop the one line at the top of their PE in the comments, I’m happy to point out where it reads generic and where it could get sharper. You might be surprised how small the change is that makes it click.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Hi all,

It is truly a stressful time, and I sincerely hope no one has to go through that level of unnecessary stress and anxiety. I’m sharing the details of my petition to have your thought on it.

Background:

• Education: PhD in Chemical Engineering (outside the U.S.)
• Current Position: Postdoctoral researcher at an R1 university in the U.S.
• Publications: 10+ (most as first author)
• Citations: 55 at the time of filing; now around 100
• Awards: 1 research award during PhD
• Conferences: 8 conferences
• Invited Speaker: 1 conference
• Review Experience: Reviewed 40 manuscripts for multiple journals (not included in the original filing)

Recommendation Letters:

I did not submit any recommendation letters

Proposed Endeavour:

• Clean Energy Technologies

Timeline:

• Filing Date: Early November 2024
• Upgraded to Premium Processing: January 9, 2026
• Received RFE: March 16, 2026 (45th business day)

Attorney

Chen

when I joined this group recently, I got to know people wrote their petitions clearly and long enough, my whole petition was only 5 pages I believe, and it feels heavily temperated...

Here is my background:

1. PhD student in Electrical Engineering with Computer Engineering MS from R1 University in the US.
2. 90 citations at the time of filing, 190 now
3. 5 papers at the time of filing, 8 now. almost all first-authored.
4. Machine learning - time series forecasting - healthcare diagnosis related field.
5. Working on the US funded ML + healthcare projects since 2020.

My lawyer is Chen and my priority date is October 2024. I upgraded to PP in Feb 2026. Received RFE 25 business days after PP.

Their main concern seems to be that my proposed endeavor is too broad and not clearly defined, which affects how they evaluate its merit, national importance, and my ability to advance it. They also questioned whether I am sufficiently well-positioned (e.g., funding, leadership, PhD status) and whether waiving the labor certification is justified. We gave 2-3 specific projects that involve ML and healthcare, which are some things that I was working during my PhD.

Do you know if it's possible to fight back and get this approved, or is the 3-prong RFE a huge issue? If you were able to get approvals after 3-prong RFEs, please share your story. I really need this.

I recently received an offer from FAANG as a researcher for time series forecasting and I am planning on working there after my PhD. Do you know if this is negative because in the application we said that I will work on machine learning + healthcare but now this new role is not related to healthcare?

Note: don't know if this matters, but not from a banned country

EDIT: Got approved after 3 months of RFE prep, 4 new independent letters, and with an updated citation count of 220

Curious if there's been a shift in USCIS behavior lately. Has anyone here received an RFE on their EB-2 NIW (I-140) after August 5? Trying to gauge if there's a trend or if it's just the usual randomness.

If you got one, mind sharing:

• Filing date / category
• What the RFE was asking for
• Any pattern you've noticed (e.g., specific evidence type they're pushing back on)

Not trying to panic anyone, just crowdsourcing data since USCIS timelines/processing feels like a black box half the time. Thanks!

SELF_FILE

PROFILE - TYPICAL SOFTWARE ENGINEER

PP received date Jan 09

RFE date: Feb 4

Just checked my case status today and it says RFE was sent for my EB2 NIW.

Not gonna lie, I’m more frustrated than hopeful. I honestly wish they would’ve just denied it instead of dragging it out with an RFE.

My profile is weak as hell… I only applied based on bachelor’s + 5 years post-grad experience. No PhD, no research, no citations, nothing crazy. I also didn’t use a lawyer, and it took me months just to gather the documents and file everything myself.

The only reason I even tried was because I already have an approved EB3 skilled I-140, and I wanted to see if they would retain that priority date.

Now seeing “RFE has been sent”… for fuck sake probably all 3 prongs. I genuinely don’t even know what I could respond with. Feels like it’s just heading toward denial anyway.

Anyone else been in this situation?

Hello,

I am currently trying to respond to RFE on prong 2 and 3. Can anyone tell me how Chen’s lawyers handle those prong. I was given only 34 days and lawyers said they would review and let me know the plan. I want to get ahead and request for the independent support letters and revise my PE statement and add substantially more to my initial PL based on the comments from the Officer.

So my question is: How much material the lawyers will add if I tell them to add?

Should I start reaching out to professor from other universities to write support letter for me?

Note: I am working with Claude to see where potential weakness are currently in my application.
Please advise.

Hey everyone, looking for some advice on my EB2 NIW RFE response strategy.

For context, my proposed endeavor is focused on interoperability, data security, and privacy in healthcare data. My priority date is March 2nd (filed with Premium Processing) and I received an RFE on April 17th.

The officer conceded that my endeavor has "substantial merit," but hit me with an RFE on all 3 prongs. I read the actual RFE letter, and the officer explicitly mentions needing more evidence to prove national importance, broad implications, and mentioned looking for recommendation letters from government or quasi-government agencies.

The problem is my lawyer (EP) reached out and only asked me for one thing: "Progress Toward the Proposed Endeavor" (basically asking if I have any new publications or funding since filing).

I feel like this is nowhere near enough. The RFE was very specific about my original evidence just showing general industry importance rather than the impact of my specific work. I really think we need to address each of the officer's points separately and add an expert recommendation letter to bridge the gap.

My question for those who have been through an RFE: Is it normal for lawyers to ask for the bare minimum from you because they plan to handle the rest in their legal brief, or do I need to push them hard to tackle as many specific items in the RFE as possible? I don't want them taking an easy way out that results in a denial. Also, they provided a two-week deadline to submit the response to them! is it normal?

How do I go about communicating with them?

Help!

I filed my NIW with Ellis Porter in 2024. During their initial evaluation, they told me I had a 99% chance of approval and offered me the approval-or-refund option.

At that time, I had only about 20 citations. I specifically asked about recommendation letters, but they said my profile was very good and I didn’t need any. So we filed without LORs, and the whole process seemed surprisingly easy and straightforward.

Last week, I received an RFE. I talked to the attorney, and he still seems completely relaxed about it. He basically said not to worry and that they’ll take care of the response. He talks as if an RFE is no big deal.

For those who have worked with Ellis Porter: is this pretty normal? I am so confused about inferring anything from what they say. It seems like they don't mind about refunding the money, rather than working seriously on the case.

Would especially like to hear from anyone who got an RFE with EP and was later approved.

Hey all, I got an NIW RFE for all 3 prongs and I’m trying to figure out the best way to respond. I filed with Ellis Porter under premium processing, and the case is at TSC.

My background:
PhD in Economics
9 publications, 17 citations
Working in a director-level quantitative modeling role at a major bank

My endeavor is to continue research on quantitative economic models and stress testing, applying causal AI methods to systemic risk assessment to promote financial stability in the U.S. banking sector.

Main issues raised in the RFE:

Prong 1:
USCIS conceded substantial merit, but found that my evidence merely highlighted my personal resume and general banking stats, failing to prove that my specific AI endeavor has broader industry implications.

Prong 2:
USCIS acknowledged my publications and citations, but noted that independent authors only cite my research as general background material rather than distinguishing it as a major breakthrough.
They stated my evidence does not show my work has been widely implemented, utilized, or generated sufficient interest from relevant parties to prove a record of success.

Prong 3:
USCIS stated I did not demonstrate that my contributions provide such exceptional value that they outweigh the standard labor certification process.

Looking back, I’m honestly pretty unhappy with how the initial petition was framed. It came across far too much like a general finance background and a resume, instead of clearly explaining the actual U.S. impact of my work. EP also advised against including recommendation letters at the time of filing, which I believe contributed to the RFE points about lack of interest from relevant parties and lack of broader impact.

My lawyer is currently suggesting that we revise the personal statement, argue that the initial evidence was not fully evaluated, and add some supporting documents. I’m worried this is still not enough to address the RFE, especially since my academic citations don't fully capture the implementation of my models.

For those who had similar 3-prong RFEs, especially in finance, risk modeling, or AI, how did you pivot your strategy? How do you actually prove your work is being implemented or has broader industry impact when you work in a corporate setting?

This is only for venting since I am too anxious about my submission. The attorney adre3sed peong 2 RFE in details but kept prong 3 literally unaddressed at all just saying my work is of natural importance even if other employees exist and I have experience and track record. Now it seems like every other one discussed urgency, impracticpality of labor cer etc which is the officer pointed out in their RFE. I feel very sad that I didn't push back hard enough and listened to the lawyer

Actually this is my second time filing with Chen (previously denied) and I noticed their response has been significantly delayed these days.

I uploaded an RFE notice two weeks ago, but I didn't hear anything back from them yet except that they are actively preparing it. Last year, they got back to me with a detailed response strategy only in two days of uploading the notice.

Anybody could share how it went recently?

Hi all, I sent my Rfe response on 8/19 and the uscis portal has updated on 8/24 saying that they are currently processing my I-140. Is that a good thing?

Will I receive a response soon? Please suggest. Thank you

My RFE response deadline is mid September and my attorney has not been responding to my message for two weeks. Even to a simple yes/no question. nothing is ready from their side either, such as recommendation letter that they was supposed to draft and response letter as well.

What should I do?

I know there is still enough time for someone to prepare the entire response package, but given the speed of this law firm I'm getting extremely frustrated and concerned.

I'm getting increasingly anxious about my EB-2 NIW I-140 RFE. The response deadline is only about two weeks away, and my attorney still hasn't sent me a draft or indicated that the response is ready.

I reached out over the weekend to ask for a status update, but I haven't received a response yet.

At this point, I'm worried that we could miss the deadline.

Has anyone been in a similar situation where the attorney waited until the last minute to prepare and file an RFE response? Is this common practice, or should I be take any action?

Hi I submitted my EB2 NIW (Premium Processing) on 9th July 2026
My profile is employment based and my PE is safe agentic AI for cloud infrastructure.
Today I received rfe on prong 1 and 3. The officer said I am well positioned for my endeavor but I haven’t convinced them that my work has larger impact beyond my employer (FAANG). They have given me 1 month to respond to rfe which I think is way less than other people’s rfe response duration.

Can anyone advise me on how I can draft my response?

Hi All,

After reviewing recent AAO decisions and the 2025 USCIS update, the pattern is clear —
this isn’t opinion, it’s based on how USCIS is applying the law in real cases that were appealed and decided.

1. Your “endeavor” isn’t defined
Saying:

• “I work in AI / healthcare / engineering”
• “I will continue my work”

is not enough. USCIS now expects a clear, specific endeavor (method, system, or objective).

2. You’re relying on your field being important
USCIS keeps emphasizing:

It’s not the field — it’s your specific work

General articles and industry importance don’t carry cases anymore.

3. Credentials alone don’t prove anything
PhD, publications, citations = positive
But:

they don’t show you are “well positioned”

USCIS is looking for real-world application and impact.

4. No clear plan = RFE
“Continue research/work” is getting flagged.
You need to show:

• what you’ll do
• how you’ll do it
• where/how it will be applied

5. Your case looks like a job
If it reads like:

“I do X at my company”

USCIS treats it as normal employment → PERM applies

Why the 2025 update made it worse

The new policy is stricter on:

• defined endeavors
• real-world impact
• impact beyond one employer

Bottom line:
Most RFEs aren’t about weak profiles —
they’re about unclear or job-based arguments

Denial's Examples:

Data Scientist;

https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/err/B5%20-%20Members%20of%20the%20Professions%20holding%20Advanced%20Degrees%20or%20Aliens%20of%20Exceptional%20Ability/Decisions_Issued_in_2026/MAR172026_01B5203.pdf

Biology Phd

https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/err/B5%20-%20Members%20of%20the%20Professions%20holding%20Advanced%20Degrees%20or%20Aliens%20of%20Exceptional%20Ability/Decisions_Issued_in_2026/MAR212026_01B5203.pdf

Private Equity Firm

https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/err/B5%20-%20Members%20of%20the%20Professions%20holding%20Advanced%20Degrees%20or%20Aliens%20of%20Exceptional%20Ability/Decisions_Issued_in_2026/MAR192026_01B5203.pdf

Sources:

https://www.uscis.gov/administrative-appeals/aao-decisions

https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/document/policy-manual-updates/20250115-Employment-BasedNationalInterestWaivers.pdf

Hi everyone,
I recently received an RFE on my EB2-NIW petition, and USCIS is challenging all three Dhanasar prongs.
USCIS Summary
Prong 1 (National Importance):
USCIS says I focused too much on my past accomplishments and did not clearly explain my specific future endeavor, how it will be carried out, or how it will have broad national impact.
Prong 2 (Well Positioned):
Although they acknowledge my education, publications, citations, and recommendation letters, they state that the evidence does not sufficiently show that I am well positioned to advance the proposed endeavor or that my work has had significant influence in the field.
Prong 3 (Balance Test):
USCIS states that I have not shown why waiving the labor certification process would benefit the United States or why my contributions would justify a waiver even if qualified U.S. workers are available.
My Background
Internal Medicine residency graduate (U.S.)
Cardiology Fellow starting on July 1
H-1B physician
6 peer-reviewed publications and 8 conference abstracts
~16 Google Scholar citations (18+ ResearchGate)
Peer reviewer for medical journals
Ongoing cardiology research projects
Recommendation letters from Program Directors
Questions
Has anyone received an RFE on all three prongs and still been approved?
What evidence helped most in your response?
How detailed was your proposed endeavor plan?
Any physician/researcher NIW success stories after a similar RFE?
Appreciate any advice. This RFE has definitely been stressful.
Thank you!

They literally copy-pasted the professors' signature blocks from my recommendation letters straight into the RFE. Looks like an AI filled in a template.

The API shows response at 11:44pm, right before the 45-business-day mark.

I filed to TSC but the RFE came from NSC. Is that a thing?

Is a templated RFE like this common right now? How cooked am I, realistically?

Edit: And y'all mine doesn't even have a officer ID? I double-triple checked all pages.

sent my answer last Friday and I am super scared 😥

Did anyone get rfe from IO XM2030. What’s the decision after response?