RFE (Request for Further Evidence) Response Strategies- Analysis of a NIW Approval after RFE Responded by Chen Immigration Law Associates
2013-11-25, BY WeGreened
Chen Immigration Law Associates successfully helped a client have his NIW petition approved after responding to RFE (Request for Further Evidence). The approval is special in that we did not handle the case from the beginning but took the case after the RFE were issued.
Lately, because the USCIS has been issuing more RFEs, we have received extensive requests to help respond to RFE from clients who did not work with us from the very beginning. I therefore would like to take the chance to introduce how we at Chen Immigration Law Associates respond to RFE by sharing the experience and our strategies.
Responding to RFE from the middle is more difficult because we did not have the chance to help the clients enhance their credentials and their chances of approval from the very beginning. After taking a new case, we usually spend time discussing with clients regarding the candidates of their references, things they may do to enhance their credentials, the significance of their work and best strategies to argue their cases if their citation history is moderate. When these things are properly done, most of our clients have their NIW petitions approved regardless of their moderate citation record.
The client received RFE, primarily because his impact on his fields was challenged by the immigration officer. Most of NIW petitions receive RFE because of this very reason.
The client is an engineer with 4 citations and 2 peer-review articles. He has master’s degree and did not have any paper review experience or award. The client represents a typical NIW petitioner from the industry. This kind of NIW petitioners have extensive industry experience, are employed by prestigious companies, are equipped with extensive knowledge and experience regarding their expertise but have few publications or citations.
After carefully reviewing the client’s credentials and the RFE letter, we figured out the best strategy would be arguing that the models he invented are impactful and therefore he has influence in his field.First of all, we narrowed the client’s field to be more specific so that it is easier to argue he has distinguished himself from his peers and he has unique and innovative skills. The models the client invented, in fact, have not been implemented so we did not actually have “objective evidence” to submit to the USCIS.We therefore drafted 10 more whiteness letters for the client. These letters are not long recommendation letters but short statements confirming that the client’s models have been applied to these witnesses’ and various researchers’ work. We also highlighted the importance of these models and their relation to the national interests. Most important of all, we cited various AAO (Administrative Appeal Office) cases to illustrate that the AAO has consistently approved NIW petitions with few or even no citations for various reasons and compared the client’s credentials with some of the petitioners’ credentials in these AAO decisions.We argued that therefore, the fact that the client did not have large number of citations should not bar him from the immigration benefit but his credentials, according to these AAO decisions, justified the waiver of labor certification.
In the RFE response letter, we answered all the challenges raised by the immigration officer, one after another and also argued the justification of waiver by citing the NYSDOT precedent. The USCIS approved the client’s petition roughly a week after our response. Receiving an RFE letter can be frustrating and stressful but with good strategy and well-presented RFE response letter, it is not difficult to have NIW petition approved after an RFE. If you just received an RFE, don’t hesitate to contact us for a free evaluation. Please email us your resume, original petition letter and the RFE letter to: law@wegreened.com
The key to our success is the way in which we present supporting evidence and provide the highest quality petition letters. With over 47,000 I-140 EB-1 ( EB-1A Alien of Extraordinary Ability; EB-1B Outstanding Researcher or Professor), EB-2 NIW (National Interest Waiver) and O-1 approvals, our firm has acquired substantial information about USCIS decisions, which gives us significant advantage over firms that only handle a small number of cases.
Based on our close track of USCIS internal memoranda, AAO decisions, and judicial review decisions, we have unique insight into the USCIS adjudication trends. Not only do we apply this insight into our approaches to our clients' cases, but we also carefully review all RFEs (Requests for Evidence), NOIDs (Notices of Intent to Deny), approvals, and denials issued on our cases so that we can further increase our understanding of USCIS strategies and decision-making processes. With the insight, we are able to advise our clients on the best ways to proceed with their petitions.
While other petitioners and attorneys may still use templates to draft recommendation letters or petition letters, our clients' recommendation letters and petition letters are tailored to their individual credentials to best persuade a USCIS officer that our clients meet the requirements of the category they are applying under and therefore their petitions deserve to be approved. To provide the best EB-1 and EB-2 NIW services, our law firm only selects attorneys who have received their professional Juris Doctor degrees from the top law schools in the U.S. and who have garnered rigorous analytical skills through years of experience.