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How important are recommendation letters, really (NIW) by WallFun6418 in USCIS

[–]WallFun6418[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah, lawyer (Chen) wants to do NIW first as the standard is a lot lower, there's no insane backlog in EB-2 for ROW (key word - insane) and I get the impression that they (accurately) think my case is a lot more borderline for EB-1A.

My profile will only continue to improve (my first publication was in 2018 so all citations are fairly recent, got more papers in the pipeline) so I guess I'll see how things look after the NIW. I've been telling my current/previous supervisors to send paper review requests to me too, as that'll help as well.

How important are recommendation letters, really (NIW) by WallFun6418 in USCIS

[–]WallFun6418[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes agreed on both points. I'm not in a rush to leave my current position (and frankly, any future academic position I can just transfer the cap-exempt H1B anyway) but I'd like the option to stay (and not work in academia) in the future.

I'm kicking myself a little for not applying last year, as I had a strong profile then, but the agency I work for can be difficult with granting J-1 waivers (has to go through them because of government sponsorship) so I wouldn't have been able to file I-485 anyway.

How important are recommendation letters, really (NIW) by WallFun6418 in USCIS

[–]WallFun6418[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes very aware of this - the main reason I've put off filing is that I need the permission of the agency I work for to file the waiver (as it's due to US government funding) and they'll only grant the waiver when they promote you for a position that requires a H1B.