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Author: David Wei Yang
I just had an EB1A case approved. Honestly speaking, it was a pleasant surprise considering that it was a weak case to start with. The client in this case was a process development scientist in a pharmaceutical company. He had published only 4 papers, including 3 first-authored papers. The client’s papers had been cited over 140 times. In terms of his service as a referee, he had only reviewed 3 papers for 1 journal. Thus, except for his citation evidence, the rest of his evidence was quite weak for an EB1A case.To make up for the weakness in hard evidence, I advised the client to find a large number of independent referees who cited his papers to attest how they relied on/drew upon/referenced his work in support of their research efforts. We ended up submitting 6 letters from independent referees containing such testimonials. These letters provided specific examples to show the immigration officer how the client’s work has influenced/benefited the work of others in the field.In addition, rather than simply submitting citation summaries, I advised the client to do a thorough review of the papers that cited his work to see if he could find useful information to support his petition. This effort paid off. The client was able to come up with a number of papers that contained quite positive comments on his papers, citing his work as remarkable, advanced, a significant achievement, pioneering research, and a representative example in his field. We further emphasized that the client’s papers were included and highlighted in many review articles.This case was filed with the Texas Service Center using premium processing and was approved in 9 days without RFE. While luck did play a role in the final outcome, effective assistance and sound advice from an experienced attorney in terms of how to improve and present evidence were key contributing factors to the success in this case.* Attorney David Yang is a partner of FYZ Law Group in charge of the firm’s San Francisco Bay Area office. He received his J.D. in 2000 from the University of Iowa College of Law, a top 25 law school. He is licensed in both California and Illinois. Over the past 12 years, Attorney Yang has successfully handled numerous immigrant petitions and has built solid expertise particularly in EB1A/EB1B/NIW cases. For free evaluations, please contact Attorney David Yang at @fyzlaw.com">wyang@fyzlaw.com