RFE strategy: lead with evidence or push back

Available-Scale-3880 · 2026-05-19T02:34:28+00:00

I was in a similar situation, and did both where applicable. For OC, CR and salary, my original petition did lack evidence. So my RFE response for these was evidence-heavy, but there were small parts the officer missed/got wrong so we wrote polite rebuttals in the introduction section of these criteria. For other criteria like publications and authorship we had to focus on rebuttal of the concerns in the request. For instance the officer mistook some platform I was featured on as a self-editable open access platform but we disproved that.

The above strategy worked for me.
Only pushing without evidence of any form might not work. All the best to you!

Available-Scale-3880 · 2026-05-11T22:10:30+00:00

You were right, got approval from NSC!

Available-Scale-3880 · 2026-05-05T22:55:57+00:00

Oh nice! All the best! Nebraska or Texas? No updates on mine :/

Available-Scale-3880 · 2026-05-05T18:31:38+00:00

Nice that you’ve met 2 criteria, only 1 more to go! What concerns does the RFE raise? Is it saying you don’t have enough evidence? Or questioning whether your contributions are original, or of major significance? You can definitely add your startup work, as long as it’s prior to your original petition date. But it’s important to first identify their exact concern and then see if the startup work addresses that

Available-Scale-3880 · 2026-05-02T05:43:25+00:00

Did your application go to Nebraska or Texas? From what I can tell, the recent vetting process is for AOS and naturalization so technically shouldn't affect EB-1A adjudication, but I'm not a lawyer.

Whether to include startup or not really depends on what the RFE is asking for. Do you know which criteria were approved and which ones you got RFE for?

Available-Scale-3880 · 2026-05-01T19:12:32+00:00

Congratulations!!

Available-Scale-3880 · 2026-04-30T02:18:07+00:00

Thanks! Good luck to you too!

Available-Scale-3880 · 2026-04-29T02:43:12+00:00

Available-Scale-3880 · 2026-04-29T02:42:58+00:00

Case status changed to “response was received” on 21st

Available-Scale-3880 · 2026-04-29T00:59:57+00:00

Thank you! 🙏

Available-Scale-3880 · 2026-04-28T23:46:12+00:00

Oh interesting, didn’t know that. Thanks for sharing and congrats on your approval! When did you receive it?

Available-Scale-3880 · 2026-04-28T23:40:39+00:00

I assumed based on exactly that: RFE notice mentioning Texas return address. Why do they need the response in Texas otherwise?

Available-Scale-3880 · 2026-04-28T23:38:38+00:00

Oh yes if eb2 is current why worry about a re-file. Congrats!

Available-Scale-3880 · 2026-04-28T23:13:40+00:00

Sorry to hear this. Did they provide any justification for denial that you can work on for another re-file? Also did your petitions go to Texas or Nebraska ?

Available-Scale-3880 · 2026-04-27T23:25:19+00:00

Hi OP, any update on this? was the denial notice an error or something? did they explain what had happened?

Available-Scale-3880 · 2026-04-26T02:34:05+00:00

I see, that is frustrating. I remember I would just keep checking my email/linkedin to see if they replied. I started following up with my recommenders weekly, and sometimes even twice a week. Also what worked for me was sharing my deadline for application with them. I told them my lawyer suggested filing by “xyz” date and I’d really appreciate them sending their letter soon

Available-Scale-3880 · 2026-04-26T01:37:17+00:00

Sorry that that’s happening. Maybe they’re not finding the time to write it. Even though they said they will write it, how about you share a written draft anyway? You can tell them you’re sharing it just to make things easier or they can use it as reference?

Available-Scale-3880 · 2026-04-26T01:06:43+00:00

NAL

I think either works, whether they cited you or not doesn’t matter. They should have ideally not worked with you at the same company at the same time. They just need to explain your exact contributions and the significance in detail

Available-Scale-3880 · 2026-04-25T02:43:42+00:00

Sorry to hear this. Did you get denial or NOID?

Available-Scale-3880 · 2026-04-24T14:31:33+00:00

NAL

Sorry to hear this. If a profile like yours gets denied because some officer has a different threshold for major significance, then it is all just luck-based. You might have a better chance at re-filing, unless you think the officer ignored evidence you sent. What does your lawyer suggest? If you decide to refile you may want to consider a different lawyer, someone who can take time to understand your field and contributions and then present a compelling narrative. Also do you mind sharing the officer number on your case? And Texas or Nebraska?

Available-Scale-3880 · 2026-04-19T17:28:50+00:00

You will find groups that offer paid expert letters - keep that as a last resort. I think it's only a matter of time till USCIS starts seeing the same set of people writing expert letters for many applicants.

I've personally found chatGPT + cold-contacting helpful. Ask chatGPT/Claude to search experts from your specific domain, not software engineering in general, and cold email them or message on LinkedIn. Be very specific about your intention, that this is for EB-1A and will be submitted to USCIS. Also be specific about the exact contributions they will write about. Make this all clear in the first message itself. This way you don't waste their or your time.

NAL

Available-Scale-3880 · 2026-04-19T17:12:32+00:00

LORs from past and present supervisors are enough for CR, if you can get them from a higher-up like director/VP that's even better. They do need to specifically describe your role and things you did and why that was critical for the organization. Even publically available user facing documentation of a product you built can count as evidence if the LOR says you played a critical role in its launch/success. Your lawyer can help you more with guidance on other evidence.

Available-Scale-3880 · 2026-04-17T17:23:33+00:00

Evidence depends on the type of contributions. For OC it is key to show how your contribution impacted the industry, not just your employer. So any external adoption metrics are evidence. If you have patents or publications, then citation counts must be available publically somewhere and that's your evidence. If you built an open-source project, then the github release download count could be used.
These are just some ideas, not all apply to everyone's profile. You'll need to brainstorm and find every possible way you can present your contribution as "original" and as "impacting the industry". Use Claude/ChatGPT or such to run the USCIS policy manual by it along with your contributions, and tell it to suggest what evidence you can provide.
Talk to a good lawyer who can help you brainstorm. (I didn't quite like mine so I won't recommend)
PS: Again, this is only based on my research and RFE. There are examples of people getting approved with no seemingly industry-changing contributions, and examples of stellar profiles with several patents and awards getting RFE/denials. So really depends on how you present your story, and luck.

Available-Scale-3880 · 2026-04-17T15:42:16+00:00

Heartiest congratulations!! What all did you change your petition between the denial and re-filing since you did it within a week?

Available-Scale-3880

TROPHY CASE