EB-1B FAQ

A: EB-1 refers to the employment-based, first preference immigration classification under the United States Immigration and Nationality Act. It is also referred to as the “priority workers” classification. EB-1B is the immigration classification reserved for outstanding professors and researchers.

A: To qualify for EB-1B immigration classification, a foreign national must possess all of the following elements:

• The foreign national must be a professor or researcher who is recognized internationally as outstanding in a specific academic field;
• The foreign national must have at least three years of experience in teaching or research in the academic field; and
• The foreign national must be offered a tenured or tenure-track teaching or permanent research position at a university, or a comparable research position with a private employer that employs at least three full-time researchers and has attained documented accomplishments in the field.

A: The university/institute of higher education or the private employer must file EB-1B petition with USCIS; the foreign national professor or researcher is the beneficiary of the petition.

A: A private employer must satisfy two additional requirements. First, it must demonstrate that it has at least three full-time researchers. Second, it must demonstrate that it has attained documented accomplishments in the field.

A: Yes. A job offer of permanent employment is required under this immigration visa category and the foreign national professor or researcher must have employer sponsorship to file an EB-1B petition.

A: All petitioners of EB-1 need to file the Form I-140, Petition for an Immigrant Worker. 

A: No. The labor certification process is not required before filing the EB-1B petition with USCIS.

A: There are a couple advantages of filing EB-1B petitions:

• No labor certification is required.
• All visas are current under the employment-based first preference so it is much faster to obtain a Green Card in this category than other employment-based preferences.

A: Yes, you can file another immigration visa petition under another category. Practically, a foreign national may file an EB-1A petition separately if he or she has sufficient documentation to establish eligibility under the EB-1A category.

A: If you believe that you are eligible for both EB-1A and EB-1B, you should always try to file EB-1A; no matter what position your employer would take on filing the EB-1B petition for you. You can file an EB-1A petition by yourself without the sponsorship from your employer. By doing so, you have the total control of your immigration petition process. Keep in mind that you can file EB-1A even if your employer has filed the EB-1B petition for you.

A: Yes, even your employer has started the PERM process for you, you still can have your employer file an EB-1B petition if you are eligible for EB-1B.

A: Yes, you can. Because there is no requirement of certified labor certification to file an EB-1B petition, your employer can file an EB-1B petition at any time.

A: Yes, you can use such experience to satisfy the requirement of three-year experience in teaching or research if two conditions are met. First, you have earned the degree you were pursuing. Second, for the teaching experience, you must show that you were fully responsible for the class taught.

A: Yes, you can use such experience to satisfy the requirement of three years of experience in teaching or research only if the research conducted toward the degree has been recognized within the academic field as outstanding.

A: You should provide a letter from your current or former employer to verify your work experience in teaching or research by listing the specific description of the duties you performed. Such letters must include the name, address, and title of the writer.

If you rely on the teaching experience gained while pursuing an advanced degree, you must include a letter from an authorized official from the school confirming that you had full responsibility for teaching courses and the dates of those courses. If you rely on the research experience gained while pursuing an advanced degree, you must submit documentation establishing that the research was recognized as outstanding.

A: The offer of employment from a university or institute of higher education as a teacher to the foreign national must be tenured or tenured-track.

A: A job offer letter from or an employment contract with the university, or institute of higher education should suffice to meet the requirement.

A: According to the regulations, permanent, in reference to a research position, means either tenured, tenured-track, or for a term of indefinite or unlimited duration, and in which the employee will ordinarily have an expectation of continued employment unless there is good cause for termination.

A: A job offer letter from or employment contract with the university, institute of higher education, or a private employer should be adequate.

A: It can be any private employer so long as it satisfies the additional requirements under the statute. It must be pointed out that the government does not qualify as a private employer, so the only government entities permitted to file EB-1B petition for outstanding professors or researchers are universities and institutes of higher education. 

A: No. Part-time employment is generally not permitted under the EB-1B category.

A: An EB-1B petition for outstanding professor or researcher must be accompanied by evidence under at least two of the six regulatory criteria to establish that the foreign national is recognized internationally as outstanding in the academic field:

• documentation of the foreign national’s receipt of major prizes or awards for outstanding achievement in the academic field;
• documentation of foreign national’s membership in associations in the academic field that require outstanding achievements of their members;
• published material in professional publications written by others about the foreign national’s work in the academic field. Such material shall include the title, date, and author of the material, and any necessary translation;
• evidence of foreign national’s participation, either individually or on a panel, as the judge of the work of others in the same or an allied academic field;
• evidence of foreign national’s original scientific or scholarly research contributions to the academic field; or
• evidence of foreign national’s authorship of scholarly books or articles in scholarly journals with international circulation in the academic field.

A: In your EB-1B petition, you should include the proof of the award, and evidence of how and why the award is important in the field. Other evidence such as evaluating criteria or media coverage is also helpful to establish this criterion. 

A: According to the Administrative Appeals Office, a teaching assistant award is not a major prize or award because it does not establish international recognition. Other prizes or awards that have not been recognized as major prizes or awards include graduate fellowships; travel awards; and receipt of high scores, etc.

A: You can still apply for an EB-1B petition without prizes or awards if you can establish eligibility through other evidentiary criteria. However, if you want to establish your EB-1B eligibility through this criterion, you must show that you have received at least two prizes or awards as the regulation expressly states “prizes or awards” in plural form. 

A: You must demonstrate that the outstanding achievements are a requirement for the membership. If the requirements are no more than the payment of fees or completion of certain educational degrees, even if it is a very prestigious organization or association, it cannot satisfy this criterion. In your EB-1B petition, you should include proof of membership, the requirements for the membership and the reputation or significance of the organization in the field.

A: At the one end of the spectrum you have the organization like the National Academy of Sciences, where membership requires the election by the existing members and at the other end is the American Bar Association, where the criteria for membership is no more than payment of annual fees.

A: This refers to a trade or academic journals that published articles about you and/or your work in the field or internationally circulated newspapers where you and/or your work in the field are reported.

A: The issue is whether the peer-reviewer enjoys international recognition. Several kinds of academic activities may satisfy this criterion. The best would be a position as a member of a journal editorial board. Serving as a member of conference–organizing or other leading committees can also satisfy the criterion. Any kind of review of the work of others based on merit may qualify. If it is simply a peer review of a local journal, it will probably not rise to the level of international recognition. Judging papers or theses within the scope of employment as a professor or teaching assistant will not qualify. The same goes with general invitations to review journal articles or paper reviews requested from mentors, which do not establish international recognition. 

A: This refers to the contribution the foreign national has made in the academic field. Such contribution must be original, meaning no other people have made the contribution before the foreign national. Thus simply repeating other’s work will not satisfy this criterion.

A: There are several ways. First, if you have patents or patent applications, you can demonstrate your contribution by showing the international recognition of your patents or patent applications. Second, the fact that your publication has been widely cited by other scholars within or across the field may also be used as evidence of original contribution. Lastly, you can always find experts in the field to write letters of recommendation for you to explain in a detailed manner what contribution you have made and how significant your contribution is in the field.

A: The focus is international circulation. Usually, the authorship of a peer-reviewed article in a major journal in the field will suffice, provided that the journal is internationally circulated. If it is not an internationally circulated journal, then it is the foreign national’s burden to show that the publication record rises above that of the average researcher’s.

A: There is no specific minimum publication requirement; rather, it is determined by USCIS on a case-by-case basis.

A: This fact itself will not have any negative impact on your petition. USCIS has acknowledged that the foreign national may not necessarily be the first author on any article to seek this particular immigration benefit, which is consistent with “the inherently collaborative nature of the modern scientific inquiry, in which researchers rarely labor in isolation.”

A: No. Every EB-1B petition will go through a two-step adjudication by the USCIS officer pursuant to Kazarian. The first step is for the USCIS to decide whether the evidence submitted has met at least two of the six evidentiary criteria. If it hasn’t, the adjudication of your petition may stop here and a denial may be issued. If it has, the adjudication will continue to the second step, which is called the final merits determination. The test is based on the evidence in the record and whether, under the totality of circumstances, you have set yourself apart from other average researchers or professors and have enjoyed international recognition. Therefore, even if you have met the burden of proof for the first step, your petition may be denied if it does not pass the final merits determination.

A: This is the second step analysis of the two-step adjudication approach of EB-1A and EB-1B petitions. According to a USCIS policy memo, in the second step of analysis in each case, USCIS officers should evaluate the evidence together when considering the petition in its entirety to make a final merits determination. This means USCIS officers must determine whether the petitioner, by a preponderance of the evidence, has demonstrated that the foreign national is a professor or researcher recognized internationally as outstanding in the academic field specified in the petition.

Yes. You can file separate immigrant visa petitions with USCIS at the same time of your employer’s filing EB-1B petition for you. To do so, you have to file a separate Form I-140 petition with the required fee and a separate set of supporting documents. 

A: Your EB-1B petition package should be organized in such a way that evidence establishing the requested evidentiary criteria can be easily identified and reviewed by the immigration officer. Therefore, exhibit list, index and a comprehensive petition letter serving as a roadmap for your petition are necessary for the petition.

A: A letter of recommendation is also called a reference letter. It is a letter written and signed by an expert in the same field as yours to attest your claim that you are a professor or researcher internationally recognized as outstanding in the academic field. Often times, letters of recommendation can be used as testimonial evidence establishing one or several evidentiary criteria under the regulation. For example, a letter of recommendation can help to show that your original contributions and provide specific examples of how those contributions have influenced the field. Also, the letter of recommendation may help establish how a foreign national’s participation as the judge of the work of others may set him or her apart as an outstanding professor or researcher with international recognition.

A: A letter of recommendation should be addressed to the USCIS adjudication officer, provide the name, address and title of the recommender and expressly indicate the author’s favorable position in support of the petitioner’s EB-1B petition. It should also include the following:

• General introduction of the writer’s background and qualification to provide the attestation: in this portion of the letter, the author should describe his or her background in the field of expertise, such as their employment history, scientific publications, rewards or prizes awarded, and membership to the organizations or associations that needs outstanding achievement, etc. This part should be a summary of the writer’s Curriculum Vitae to demonstrate the writer’s qualification to provide an advisory opinion in foreign national’s EB-1B petition.
• A brief description of how the author knows the petitioner: the author must indicate in the letter how he or she met the petitioner and under what circumstances the author provide the testimony evidence through the letter.
• Explanation, in detail, as to what particular elements of specific evidentiary criteria the author will demonstrate that the foreign national has satisfied. Letters of recommendation have been regularly used to establish the foreign national’s original scientific or scholarly research contribution to the field. Letters of recommendation are very good evidence to establish the original contribution. The author must describe in a detailed manner what contribution the foreign national has made; why it is original; and how significant such contribution has been in the field. If the foreign national tries to establish that he or she is a member of the association that requires outstanding achievement, and there is no readily available objective evidence to prove the required elements, a letter from the expert in the field attesting to the elements can bridge the gap of objective evidence. The author cannot simply repeat the language of the regulation, nor can he or she just list the qualifications, unique skills or background the Petitioner possesses as well as the importance of foreign national’s work. Letters containing nothing but conclusive statements without concrete examples of the Petitioner’s original contribution of major significance in the field will carry little evidentiary weight. In summary, the author must describe in a detailed manner how the foreign national has set him or herself apart as an outstanding professor or researcher with international recognition. 

A: You should be very prudent in selecting persons writing letters of recommendation for you. Though it is easy to have persons close to you, such as your colleagues, classmates, co-authors, advisors or even personal acquaintances write letters of recommendation for you, the probative value of such letters in supporting your EB-1B petition will be substantially undercut as the USCIS adjudicators would consider letters from such persons partial. On the other hand, letters from independent, objective individuals such as third parties who can show your influence in the scientific or requisite field can be very persuasive in supporting your position.

A: No evidence or documentation can guarantee an automatic approval of the EB-1B petition. A letter from a Nobel Laureate will definitely enhance the Petitioner’s chances of approval, but only if it is a letter describing how the foreign national has satisfied one or several evidentiary criteria recognized by the regulations. On the other hand, such a letter will carry little weight if it indicates that the author has been solicited to comment on the petitioner’s work based on the review of his publications and Curriculum Vitae.

A: You should prepare four to seven letters of recommendation for your EB-1B petition.

A: The more, the better. Or you should prepare at least three letters from independent parties.

A: We can draft the letters for you. After being retained, we will discuss with you in detail the strategy on how to present your case before USCIS. Once you have determined which particular scholars or professionals you would like to solicit the letters for support, we can assist you in one of two ways.  First, you provide us with the writer’s qualifications, background, working relationship with you and how he or she would evaluate the contributions you made in the field.  We will then draft the reference letter for you after we obtain the above information in writing. Second, with your authorization and this person’s written consent of writing you a letter, we can communicate with the person to collect the necessary information on your behalf and draft the letter of recommendation.  Once we finish drafting the letter, we will send the draft to you or the person for possible or necessary revision before it is finalized for the signature. 

A: You can file your EB-1B electronically or by mail. If you file electronically, you still have to send your supporting documents through the mail to the USCIS service centers.

A: Depending on your residence in the United States, EB-1B petitions will be filed with the Nebraska Service Center or Texas Service Center.

A: After receiving the EB-1B petition, USCIS will promptly issue a receipt notice acknowledging the receipt of the petition. The receipt notice contains important information such as the receipt number, priority date, and name of the petitioner, etc.

A: According to USCIS, the current processing time for EB-1B petitions is around four months. 

A: Yes. By paying an additional $1225.00 to USCIS, USCIS can adjudicate an EB-1B petition within 15 calendar days.

A: Yes, you can. All you have to do is file Form I-907 or have your employer file form I-907 with the Service Center where your EB-1B is pending and pay $1225.00. Once the Service Center receives your filing, they will start the premium processing service.

A: After submitting your petition, USCIS will send a receipt notice confirming its receipt of your petition. This usually arrives within a few weeks of filing your petition. After the receipt notice, USCIS will send you or your attorney a second correspondence. This can either be an approval notice or a Request for Evidence (RFE) notice. An approval notice means you have established your eligibility under the EB-1B category, and you and your qualifying relatives can move on to file an adjustment of status application (I-485) or start consular process application with National Visa Center. An RFE means that USCIS has found the documentation you submitted with your petition insufficient to establish your eligibility for EB-1B. You must provide the additional documents requested in the RFE within the designated time frame (usually around 12 weeks) to resolve the insufficiency.

A: An RFE is effectively a notice of intent to deny. If you have hired an attorney to handle your petition, you should work with your attorney to find out what kind of documents you should submit to respond RFE. If you have not hired an attorney, we strongly suggest that you consult Law Offices of Yongbing Zhang or a licensed immigration attorney experienced in EB-1B petitions and discuss a plan to respond the RFE.

A: Approval of your EB-1B petition will not get you a green card automatically. You still have to take one more step to apply for your green card. You have to either file an adjustment of status application with USCIS if you are physically in the United States, or start the consular process at the National Visa Center if you are outside the United States. If you have filed your adjustment of status application concurrently with your EB-1B petition, then you do not have to do anything but wait for USCIS’ decision regarding the adjustment of status application. If you have not done the concurrent filings, you can prepare to file the adjustment of status application or consular process.

A: Yes, you can. As visas are always available for Employment-Based First Preference categories, you and your qualifying relatives can file concurrent I-485 applications with I-140 EB-1B petition.

A: The benefit of concurrent filings is that you, your spouse and children born outside of the U.S. can enjoy such immigration benefits as Employment Authorization (EAD) and Advance Parole (travel document) while EB-1B petition and your I-485 applications are pending with USCIS. The drawback to concurrent filing is that if your I-140 EB-1B petition is denied, your I-485 will also be denied. This will result in revocation of your already approved EAD and Travel document and the $1070 adjustment of status filing fee for each applicant will not be refunded.

A: EB-1B petition with a postdoc position will be denied by USCIS because the postdoc is not considered a permanent research position. If you have had three years teaching or research experience and believe that you can establish you are an outstanding researcher with international recognition by meeting at least two of six evidentiary criteria under the regulations, you should work with your employer to find a suitable job position for you. If not, you should consider filing a self-petition on EB-1A.

A: If you change job while your EB-1B is pending, your previous employer should withdraw your EB-1B petition. You will have to discuss with your present employer to find out the possibility of filing a new EB-1B petition.

A: It is practically impossible, as EB-1B petitions would require a job offer and an employer to sponsor.

A: Yes, you can file an EB-1B petition first. After your EB-1B petition is approved, you can work on your J waiver. You must have the J waiver at the time you file your adjustment of status application in the United States. You do not have to have the J waiver approved before filing the EB-1B Petition. In fact, you can file EB-1B and J waiver at the same time. For a free evaluation of your EB-1B petition, please contact us.

A: If hired, our firm will provide the following services:

• Answer all the questions your employer or you have regarding your EB-1B petition;
• Direct, advise and counsel you and or your employer to prepare the necessary evidence and documentation supporting the EB-1B petition;
• Collect sufficient information from you and your employer regarding the area of your expertise and the background of the persons who would provide letters of recommendation for your EB-1B petition;
• Draft, revise, amend or proofread the letters of recommendation;
• Draft a comprehensive petition letter in support of your EB-1B petition;
• Complete all the required forms based on the information your employer and you provide with us;
• Organize the petition package and file it with USCIS service center;
• Monitor and keep track of your petition, and follow up with USCIS regarding the progress of the adjudication if necessary; and
• Work with you to collect, draft, prepare and file additional evidence or documentation to respond to USCIS Request for Evidence if necessary.

A: Depending on the strength of your EB-1B petition, you can choose one of two options after your EB-1B petition is denied. First, you may appeal the denial to the Administrative Appeals Office (AAO) of USCIS in Washington, DC for review of the Service Center’s decision. You will have 30 days to file such appeal. Once an appeal is filed, the Service Center will review the appeal first and treat it as a motion to reopen/reconsider. If they agree with your position, they may withdraw the denial and enter a new decision approving the EB-1B petition. If the Service Center does not agree with your position, it will transfer your case to AAO for further review. Second, your employer can always choose to re-file EB-1B petition with a set of new evidence indicating your increased international recognition in your field. If the circumstances surrounding your academic development or scientific research have substantially changed since your submission of first EB-1B petition, such as dramatic increase of independent citations to your publications, invitation to judge scholarly articles for prestigious journals, or additional applications of your patents by other institutions, you should file a new EB-1B petition based on the new documentation. Although you must disclose the denial of your first EB-1B petition in any subsequent petitions, USCIS will not deny a new EB-1B petition based only on the previous denial. USCIS is required to review your entire petition package and make a decision based on the evidence provided. If the evidence you submit for the second petition has clearly established your eligibility, USCIS must approve the petition despite the previous denial.

A: 1) Please contact us by filling out the online questionnaire and attach your comprehensive curriculum vitae to obtain a free evaluation by one of our experienced attorneys;

2) One of our attorneys will contact you and provide you with a free assessment of your case;

3) If we believe you are eligible for EB-1B, and your petition stands a decent chance of being approved, we will notify you;

4) You may agree to engage our services by signing the fee agreement and paying the first half of the legal fee;

5) The attorney will sign the fee agreement and send a copy of the agreement back to you, establishing the attorney-client relationship;

6) Your attorney will prepare and send you a list of requested documents, which will be specifically tailored to your background and credentials. You will also be asked to fill out the general questionnaire;

7) You will need to send all the documents to the attorney, including a summary of your research or academic endeavors, and information (name, job position, employer name and address, background, etc.) on the experts who are willing to provide letters of recommendation;

8) Your attorney will draft the letters of recommendation and send to you or the experts for signatures;

9) Your attorney will draft the petition letter, and our office will prepare and organize the package for submission;

10) We will file the petition package with USCIS Service Center and notify you upon receiving the receipt notice from USCIS;

11) We will notify you upon USCIS’ approval of your petition, completing our representation;

12) alternatively, we will notify you upon receiving a USCIS RFE notice and work with you, which may include but is not limited to: providing a list of additional documents based on RFE notice, drafting an additional letter of recommendation if necessary, preparing and organizing the response package, and filing the response package prior to the deadline;

13) notify you upon receiving the approval notice of your EB-1B petition, marking the completion of our service at that time.

A: Yes, even though you engage in research in Miami, Florida, we can still represent your employer in your EB-1B petition. United States immigration law is federal law. Any attorney admitted to a federal court can practice federal law nationwide. Therefore, you can hire an attorney who does not have an office or practice in Florida to represent you in your immigration matters. The Law Offices of Yongbing Zhang regularly takes cases from other states and even outside the United States.

A: We charge a flat fee of $4,500.00 for an EB-1B petition. Upon signing the fee agreement, the client must pay the first half of the $4,500.00 fee; the remaining half of the $4,500.00 will be due upon the approval of the EB-1B petition. There is no additional legal fee for the service of responding to RFE notice. For each case, we also charge an additional $150 case processing fees for the costs of printing, mailing and case management. In addition to the legal and case processing fees, clients are also responsible for the filing fee to the government for each petition. Click here for a copy of our EB-1B petition fee agreement.

A: Currently, USCIS filing fee for the EB-1B petition is $580.00. The petitioner must pay this amount of filing fee at the time of filing. The filing fee is subject to change in the future by USCIS. The petitioner will not be able to get a refund of filing fee from USCIS if the EB-1B petition is denied or withdrawn.

A: The difference between EB-1B and EB-1A is threefold. First, the fundamental difference between the two first preference petitions is the sponsorship. EB-1B requires the employer’s sponsorship and job offer whereas EB-1A does not. Secondly, apart from establishing the core eligibility of the foreign national’s international recognition as an outstanding professor or researcher, the law has imposed several requirements all EB-1B petitions must establish. Such requirements include a job offer for a permanent position; three years teaching and/or research experience; and nature of employer’s ordinary business as a research institute, university or institute of higher education. EB-1A petitions do not have to establish these requirements. Thirdly, once an EB-1B petition has passed the restricted requirements, it will face a much lower burden of proof to establish the foreign national’s international recognition as an outstanding professor or researcher in the academic field. As for EB-1A petitions, the standard is the foreign national’s sustained national or international acclaim and that he or she is one of that small percentage who has risen to the very top of the field of endeavor. Instead of satisfying three out of ten evidentiary criteria as required by the EB-1A petition, EB-1B petitions will only have to satisfy two out six criteria.

Yes, you can file both petitions at the same time. If your employer agrees to file an EB-1B petition for you, you can always file an EB-1A petition on your own, the documents you submit for EB-1B can also be used for you to file EB-1A. 

A: First, EB-1B petitions require a job offer and the sponsorship of employers, and foreign national cannot file a self-petition. On the other hand, NIW petitions do not require a job offer and employer’s sponsorship, and foreign nationals can self-petition for an NIW. Second, EB-1B requires three years experience of teaching and/or research whereas NIW does not need such experience. Third, there is a higher evidentiary burden for an EB-1B beneficiary to demonstrate that he or she is an internationally recognized outstanding professor or researcher whereas the foreign national in an NIW petition only has to demonstrate some degree of influence in the academic field as a whole.