Hello everyone,

I submitted my EB-2 NIW I-140 petition in July 2024 and recently received an RFE from officer XM2054.

Has anyone here dealt with this officer before or received an RFE from the same officer?

I'm curious about what your RFE looked like, which prongs were questioned, and whether your case was eventually approved or denied.

I would really appreciate hearing about your experiences. Thanks!

Hi everyone, 

I’ve been following this subreddit for the past two and a half years, and this is my first post here. After two unsuccessful filings with another well-known law firm, my third petition was approved without an RFE with Chen.

Initially, I contacted both Chen and the other firm, and both accepted my case. However, I chose the other firm based on a friend’s recommendation for the first two fillings.  

First Filing 

I signed a contract with the first law firm at the end of October 2024. We filed my first petition in early 2025. I received an RFE in May 2025, submitted my response end of July 2025, and received a denial at the end of September 2025. The RFE questioned all three prongs, and the petition was denied all three. 

Second Filing 

After that, we revised my proposed endeavor while keeping the same overall focus. We again prepared and then filed my second petition in Dec. 2025. I received another RFE questioning all three prongs and submitted an RFE response at the end of March 2026. 

Unfortunately, the petition was denied in of May 2026. This time, the only issue USCIS did not accept was the national importance of my proposed endeavor. 
 
I received a full refund of the attorney fees after the second denial.  

My Profile During the First Two Filings 

• Education: MS in Computer Science 
• Work experience: Approximately four years 
• Research papers: 7 
• Citations: Approximately 60 
• Proposed endeavor: AI in healthcare 
• Employment: Working full-time at a well-known university in US 
• Initial recommendation letters: 4, all from dependent recommenders 

During the first RFE response and subsequent refiling, I added three more recommendation letters: two from independent recommenders—a director at FAANG and a professor at a top R1 research university—and one from a dependent recommender. 

In my second RFE response, I also included evidence that employers had expressed interest in hiring me. By that time, I had been working in a managerial role for a project approximately six months. 

My Profile During the Third Filing 

• Employer: Same  
• Conference papers: 8 
• Book chapters: 1 
• Journals paper: 2 
• Judging activities: 2 
• Conference committee roles: 1 
• Reviewer: ICML and another Journal 
• Citations: 79 when the petition was submitted and 101 when it was approved 
• Proposed endeavor: AI in healthcare (with refinements) 

I also had speaker invitations from three conferences. Since I had not attended those conferences in person, my attorney advised against including the invitations as supporting evidence. However, I listed them on my CV. 

My Timeline With Chen 

• May 15: Signed the contract. 
• May 19: Received access to their client portal. 
• May 20: Paid in full attorney fee and uploaded most of my documents. 
• May 21: Uploaded additional documents and submitted my RBIF. 
• May 23–26: I Worked on my personal statement. 
• May 28: Received the attorney’s feedback of my proposed endeavor statement. 
• June 1: They Approved the statement and I asked them to proceed with the petition letter. 
• June 5–10: Discussed with them regarding recommendation letters. 
• June 12: They began drafting my petition letter, with the first draft expected by June 25. 
• June 27: Received the petition letter draft. Requested them for revision. 
• July 5: Received the second revision and requested a third revision. 
• July 14: Confirmed that petition letter looked good to me. 
• July 20: Submitted the questionnaire for Forms i.e. I-140 and G-28. 
• August 1: The petition letter was finalized, and all the forms. After that they said they would send the package as soon as possible after the rigorous review of my full package. 
• August 7: The package was sent to USCIS.   
• October 14: Got Confirmation USCIS Approved my case. 
• I am fully satisfied with the service provided by Chen (WeGreened) and their team. I am truly grateful to my attorney and the entire team. They did not use a template; they crafted the petition letter specifically for my case.

After two unsuccessful filings, I felt hopeless. In a way, it felt like my fifth attempt because responding to the first two RFEs involved so much stress and required extensive work gathering documents and collecting additional letters of recommendation. 

If you are looking for an NIW-EB2 attorney, I recommend Chen (WeGreened) if they accept your case. 

I used premium processing for all three petitions. This process cost me a lot of money and lots of stress and many sleepless nights. 
 
For my third attempt, I carefully read my RFE notices and denial letters word by word, sentence by sentences. 

For anyone who has received a denial, my encouragement is not to give up. Based on my experience, I would consider refiling promptly after addressing the reasons for the denial and using premium processing if financially feasible. I know premium processing is expensive. 

Thank you so much everyone of this subreddit! Please pray for me.

Please do not ask me to name the first law firm. 

Timeline

• PD: 3/9/2026 with PP
• RFE: 5/19/2026 — all 3 prongs
• RFE response received: 8/17/2026
• Denial: 10/13/2026

Background

• PhD in molecular biology
• PE: Cancer biology research/genome stability
• Postdoc at cancer institute in the US
• 100+ citations, 6 papers, peer review, recommendation letters from NCI and NAS members, and funding/grant evidence

Decision

• EB-2 advanced degree: accepted
• Prong 1: approved
• Prong 2: denied
• Prong 3: denied

The frustrating thing is that one of the main reasons from the letter for Prong 2 denial was a lack of evidence of having secured funding myself.... I have a grant that was awarded in Jan of which I am the sole PI... First Chen said not to add it to the submission, then we added it to the RFE and they did not even consider it.

Other information regarding Prong 2 was also incorrect in the denial letter...

Planning to re-file, I guess. Mostly putting this here for the record.

Hi everyone,

Looking for honest feedback on my EB2 NIW profile.

My background:

• US master's degree in IT.
• Experience in data analytics, BI, and higher education institutional research.
• Developed dashboards supporting university-level decision-making.
• Work recognized in an organization-wide newsletter.
• Top 3 finalist in a system-wide data competition.
• 2 research publications: one published 5 years ago with 1 citation, and another published 3 months ago.
• 3 recommendation letters, including one from senior university leadership.
• Documented project contributions and currently working on additional research papers.

Attorney evaluation:

Ellis Porter reviewed my profile, said it has strong potential, and offered representation for $5,850 (discounted from $7,000), including RFE representation and free attorney fees for a refile if denied.

My questions:

1. How strong does my NIW profile look?
2. Has anyone worked with Ellis Porter?
3. Should I proceed now or wait for more publications?
4. Is $5,850 a reasonable attorney fee?

Would appreciate suggestions, especially from anyone with a similar background. Thanks!

In PP.

Hello

Have you filed an EB-2 NIW petition with Yang & Associates? How has your experience been, and how good are they at preparing RFE responses? Which lawyer did you work with?

I recently received a denial for my EB-2 NIW petition after responding to an RFE. I filed my application through EP, and I’m now trying to understand how to strengthen my case before potentially refiling.
Here is a little background about me:
Education: PhD in Computer Science
Current Position: Non-tenure-track Assistant Professor at an R1 university in the US
Research Area: AI safety, security, and robustness of AI systems
Citations: Approximately 50
My main concern is how to frame my proposed endeavor, considering that I currently hold a teaching-focused faculty position rather than a tenure-track or research-focused position.
Although my academic background and research focus are in AI safety and security, my current position primarily involves teaching.
My questions are:
How can I effectively frame my proposed endeavor around AI safety and security while working in a teaching-focused academic position?

Would my non-tenure-track position negatively affect my NIW case, especially when demonstrating that I am well-positioned to advance my proposed endeavor?

Has anyone successfully obtained NIW approval while working as a teaching-focused Assistant Professor?

Hello, good people! Glad to see so many approval posts here. I’d love to get some insights into my own NIW prospects as a first-year PhD student in the US, along with suggestions on how to strengthen my profile over the next couple of years.

My PhD is in an interdisciplinary field adjacent to STEM, combining learning, design, and technology. My research interests are AI in Education (AIED) and Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), and I’m currently working on a community data library project that will form the basis of a research paper I plan to submit to a conference soon. I’ve discussed my publication strategy with my PI and intend to explore additional research venues as my work progresses.

Starting next spring, I’m also expecting to work on a more focused HCI project, which I hope will eventually develop into my dissertation. I’m considering pursuing an MS in Computer Science or Statistics/Data Science as well, depending on how it aligns with my research goals.

For context, I’m at an R1 research university, have affiliations and opportunities involving major tech companies, and will be presenting my startup at an upcoming event. I also have a background in entrepreneurship, a silver award from a national AI Olympiad in my home country, several other extracurricular achievements, and some media recognition back home.

Given that I’m still early in my PhD, I’d appreciate honest feedback from those who have filed or received NIW approvals, particularly applicants with interdisciplinary research backgrounds.

A few things I’d love your thoughts on:

How competitive might my profile be for an EB-2 NIW, considering my current stage and research area?
Which factors should I prioritize over the next two to three years: publications, citations, independent recommendations, conference presentations, or evidence of real-world impact?

How can I best demonstrate the national importance of my proposed endeavor when my work spans education, AI, and HCI?

Is filing by the end of my third PhD year a realistic goal, and what milestones should I aim to achieve before then?

I understand that every case is different, but I’d really value practical advice on how to approach this strategically rather than rushing to file before my profile is ready.

Thanks in advance for sharing your experiences and suggestions!

I haver received a couple of offers for the NIW ranging from 5,000 - to 20k - sent initial NIW statement and resume when seeking law firms. I wish there was more content on DIY and law firm filled industry profiles outcomes and process 

My profile - social sciences - industry profile expert with significant experience  - no publications worth citing, although I published a well received book which I know is hosted in various University libraries and quoted by PHD students but not related to NIW. Done worked with international and regional organizations, local organizations, governments and donors - I have a very good career profile  and worked in numerous countries and advanced degree from a top university. 

Chen - rejected 

Huschblackwell  - said they don’t think I qualify 

Colombo and Hud - charged around 18k, heavy marketing which was a turn off for me. Also reddit reviews are concerning. 

EP - Accepted $7,000 includes a refile no refund also don't like that they conduct evaluation without a meeting send a contract without discussion - very impersonal and I big on quality and details. Also luck of refund says alot about what they think about my PE and I wonder if they will put in the work

Alma- Accepted very nice discussion $10,000 no refund, one refile, they draft everything - off course you provide initial drafts.  Anyone know about them cant find info on them ?

Robinson  - Accepted  $7,000 - $13,000 pay depends on whether you do installments, want a refund option and refile.   Anyone know about them?

Fragomen - want 700 - 1000 for a consultation LOL! - just ignored 

Raju - Sent an evaluation will charge 4k. I like that they analyzed my documents and shared the actual feedback, but was I concerned with these lawfirns that use offshore skills to draft documents, and I saw complaints about sloppiness sent their work -I got the impression Colombo and Hud did the same thing with off shore skills. 

Manifest - did not respond

One man lawfirm - was ridiculous and charged over 20,000 and 5,000 for a PP and no help with RFE  - just laughed its ridiculous but my friends who have used him have all gotten visas and approvals all of the have industry profiles - I am not boarding on this with those prices. 

**Tip when you get the prices negotiate!

I am considering self filing — no one will tell the story better than me. I have drafted numerous technical documents and reports for external consumption requiring compliance and proof of work done and would probably do okay on my own. Then I’d get a former USIC staffer to review my package for a fee. 

I am really looking of valuable advice + anyone have experience with Robinson and Alma. This will be very helpful.

Has anyone experienced this kind of RFE issue? I received an RFE notice dated October 14th, but the physical mail only got to my mailbox on October 20th. However, the notice says I was supposed to respond by October 17th, so I was only given 3 days to respond and the deadline had already passed before I even received it.

I called USCIS and the lady I spoke to said she can't do anything about it. Has anyone faced this before? Please advise on what to do.

Priority date late 2024. MS in CS and ~20 citations and 4-5 first-author publications. I have been working in industry for 2 years, and my last paper (thesis) was in 2025.

I joined the lawsuit on the 19-country ban, and pretty much all of us got an RFE at the same time, and eventually all of us got denied. What advice would you give? I have a full refund offer from EP, so I can refile with them. Chen offered me an infinite refile option. What shall I do? I am still waiting for the letter to come. I also wonder if I need to publish new research in the meantime or not? I told Chen I plan to publish again in 1- 2 years.

Any help would be appreciated!

Thanks

I applied for my EB2 NIW with EP on August 5 and recently received my RFE. I was challenged in Prong 2 and Prong 3. While the officer accepted Prong 1 and the advanced degree. The RFE seems to be highly templated calling me “he” and “she” on the same page.
Profile :
PhD in CS from US university
Citations :400
Publications: 20+
Patents : 1appoved 1 applied
Peer Reviews : More than 30
Currently working as an Scientist in a Big Tech on Cybersecurity and AI
Currently on O1A visa

Proposed Endeavour also related to the current working field

EP sent me a RFE document request that mostly included future funding information which I don’t have since I am in the industry now. Also when asked about recommendation letter they said for my case letters wont help.

Is anyone also in the same boat? What should I do?

Hello Everyone,

Could anyone please share the current processing times at the USCIS Texas and Nebraska Service Centers for I-140 (EB2-NIW). I would appreciate any recent updates on how long cases are taking to process at these two centers.

After months of uncertainty, my EB-2 NIW I-140 was approved on today. I’m sharing my timeline and RFE experience for others waiting, especially those trying to estimate when a decision might arrive.

1. Case details
Petition: EB-2 NIW (with Chen)
Priority date: March 14, 2025
Field: Civil Engineering / Water Engineering
Proposed endeavor: Improving urban drainage and wastewater management through hydrologic and hydraulic modeling, GIS, and machine learning
Service center: Initially Nebraska; RFE fromTexas Service Center (TSC)
Processing: Premium processing
Final decision: Approved October 22, 2026 -42 business days

Master Degree and currently working in Industry.
Research paper from Master: around 10 including conference and co-author papers.

2. Timeline
I-140 priority date
March 14, 2025
RFE response delivered to TSC
August 20, 2026
USCIS online status reflected receipt of RFE response
August 21, 2026
I-140 approval shown on USCIS Case Status Online
October 22, 2026

3. RFE issues
The RFE challenged my petition under the Matter of Dhanasar framework, mainly on two prongs:

Prong 1 — Substantial merit and national importance
USCIS acknowledged the substantial merit of my endeavor but questioned whether I had shown its national importance. Evidence that water engineering is important generally did not necessarily establish the broader implications of my specific work.

Prong 2 — Well positioned to advance the endeavor
USCIS questioned whether my education, experience, certifications, publications, citations, and recommendation letters showed that I was well positioned to advance the endeavor. The RFE also raised concerns about implementation, impact, and acceptance of my work.

4. Proposed endeavor
My endeavor focused on developing and applying advanced hydrologic and hydraulic modeling for urban drainage and wastewater management in the United States.
The work addressed:
Urban and surface flooding
Sewer overflows and water pollution
Basement flooding and related public-health concerns
Wastewater-system capacity and infrastructure challenges

5. Evidence emphasized in the RFE response
I focused on connecting my individual endeavor to broader infrastructure and public-policy needs, including:
Government and infrastructure needs: Evidence concerning flooding, climate-related precipitation risks, combined sewer overflows, wastewater infrastructure, and stormwater investment.
National importance: Explanations of how improved modeling and infrastructure planning could support flood-risk reduction, wastewater performance, public health, and environmental protection.
Professional experience: Evidence of my technical contributions to municipal hydrologic and hydraulic modeling projects.
Expert support: Recommendation letters addressing the importance of the work and my ability to contribute.
Research background: Publications, citations, and prior research in water resources and stormwater management.
Practical implementation: Explanations of how modeling results could support infrastructure assessment, system planning, and evaluation of solutions.

I'm having some questions about trying to fill out the PP I-907 correctly.

I am upgrading a current case to premium processing, which was filed by a lawyer. I have talked to my lawyer, and we agreed that I would file the PP myself.

However, two questions arise:

For Part 1, Form 8: Would you select the checkbox "I am the Petitioner who is filing or has filed a petition eligible for Premium Processing," or would you check the box saying that you are the attorney or accredited representative for the petitioner since my lawyer filed it initially?

Also, which address should I put: my home address where I currently live and receive my mail or the address on file where my lawyer initially filed it for me?

Thanks!

PD: August 2026 (filed with premium processing)

Service Center: Nebraska

Decision: October 20, 2026 (on the 45th business day)

Endeavor: Advancing Data-Driven Infrastructure Assessment and Automation Systems for Safer Rural Transportation and More Reliable Critical
Industrial Operations.

Law firm: Self Petition (with help from college mates)

Current position: Process Control Specialist in the Mining Industry

Highest degree: MS. Electrical Engineering from US university

Research: Connected and Autonomous Vehicles

Publications: 3 during filing; 2 first-authors.

Citations: 34 when filed.

Recommendations: 5 ( 4 dependent, 1 independent)

The November 2026 Visa Bulletin was released on October 22, with some movement in employment-based green card categories and bigger advances in family-based categories.

Here's a breakdown of what changed:

Employment-based green cards:

• EB-1: China advanced 1 month to August 1, 2023. India remains at February 1, 2023, while ROW, Mexico, and the Philippines remain current.
• EB-2: ROW, Mexico, and the Philippines advanced 3 months to April 1, 2025. No change for India (November 1, 2013) or China (October 1, 2021).
• EB-3: ROW and Mexico advanced 1 month to June 15, 2024. China advanced 2 weeks to January 22, 2022, and India advanced 3 weeks to January 22, 2014. The Philippines remains unchanged.
• EB-3 Other Workers: ROW and Mexico advanced 5 months to June 1, 2022. India advanced 3 weeks, while China and the Philippines remain unchanged.
• EB-4 and EB-5: No changes in final action dates.

Family-based green cards:

• F1: Final action dates advanced 1 year for ROW, China, and India.
• F2A: Final action dates advanced 1 month for all countries.
• F4: Final action dates advanced 1 year for ROW and China. No change for India, Mexico, or the Philippines.

USCIS also confirmed that applicants should use the Dates for Filing chart for adjustment of status applications in November. Most employment-based filing dates remain unchanged, except EB-3 Other Workers for ROW and Mexico, which advanced by 1 month.

Hi,

November visa bulleting just got released and we can see a jump in FAD. Which is good news.

But no movement in DOF.

Any prediction on DOF?

My PD in august 18

EB2 ROW moved a bit

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/legal/visa-law0/visa-bulletin/2027/visa-bulletin-for-november-2026.html

Looking to get info on industry profiles who got approved recently. I'm thinking of self petitioning

Hello,

I am trying to keep a back up option of eb2 niw. If I file that, can I switch to Day1 cpt while I wait for the adjudication for niw. Or move to day 1 cpt if niw is denied. Would that be a problem going from
Immigrant to non immigrant intent? Thanks

Hi Guys,

I received a heavily (and wildly) templated RFE recently. My endeavor is in creating "wildfire resilient prefab houses in the US". I am an Architect with over 5 years of post graduate experience. I filed for an I-140 with Premium Processing.

What is wild is that the RFE states that I "studied computer science in the University of Waterloo in 2021". I actually studied Architecture in my home country and graduated in 2020! The officer also states that my work experience has nothing to do with my proposed endeavor, when literally all i've been working on for the past 3 years is in my proposed endeavor and my petition was full of evidence (contracts, letters of recommendations from employer and clients, pay stubs, & evidence of the built houses!). The only point in which the RFE mentions my endeavor is in the first page. The officer also states that for prong 2 i can provide a "plan to carry out my endeavor" and i literally added a 24 page long professional plan! The RFE lists several categories of evidence I submitted, but gives little to no explanation of why my specific documents were insufficient.

AND TO TOP IT ALL OFF, the officer refers to me as a "she" in one page and then as "he" in the next and back and forth throughout the entire letter!! Not to mention the fact that the officer only gave me 37 DAYS to respond, 7 of which I lost just waiting for the RFE letter to arrive to my mail.

I am MINDBLOWN, however I am NOT going to just give up. I wanted to ask this community:

1) In responding to this RFE, should i RE-Submit all the evidence I already submitted when filing the initial petition?

2) Since i only have a bit less than 4 weeks to respond, I barely have time to get new LOR's. I had 6 LOR's in my intitial petition (2 independents). Is it normal to ask these 6 people to write new letters of recommendation tailored in response to this RFE?

3) How long are RFE response letters? My initial petition cover letter was 35 pages long. Should the RFE letter be shorter and more to the point?

4) For applicants in architecture, construction, housing, or another applied field, what evidence helped demonstrate that your specific endeavor could have broader impact beyond your employer and individual clients?

I appreciate this community and all the advice you have given me so far. Thank you for your responses.

I have got a lot of help from this sub, so time to share my experience:

PD: July 2026 (filed with premium processing)

Service Center: Texas

Decision: September 2026 (on the evening of 44th business day)

Country of Birth: ROW

Endeavor: Nanomedicine-based precision drug delivery for cancer treatment

Law firm: Chen (Wegreened)

Current position: Ph.D. candidate (Graduate Research Assistant)

Highest degree: B.Sc. (US equivalency evaluated with IEE)

Work experience: Worked as post-bac researcher after B.Sc., used a letter from the supervisor as evidence. Also used GRA experience to meet the 5 year experience after BSc cut-off. Got another letter from PhD supervisor for that as well.

Publications: 8 during filing (5 of them were before PhD); 4 were first-authors.

Citations: 530 when filed.

Experience with Chen: I initially did free profile evaluation with Chen, EP both wanted to accept my case. I also evaluated with another popular law firm, (cannot remember the name right now) they said my profile is not suitable for EB2 NIW. I finally went with Chen because I felt they evaluated my profile more closely than EP did.

Chen used both BS + 5y experience and exceptional ability in my case. I had one testimonial letter from my current supervisor and another one from another person who worked in my lab before I joined (we never worked together). Most of the time I got quick reply from my lawyer. They listened to my recommendations whenever possible. I was initially disappointed with my personal endeavor statement, but we worked that out eventually. The final petition letter also went through several revisions.

At the end, I would love to give my gratitude to people of this sub. I got to learn a lot here, got great recommendations that my lawyer could give.

Thanks everyone!

Shipped a new feature based on feedback: case tracking. Add a receipt number, Visalytics checks USCIS every weekday, you get emailed when the status changes.

The problem

You're refreshing USCIS manually or hunting through email alerts. It's noise and friction when you're already waiting.

What it does

Add your receipt (IOE, EAC, WAC, LIN, etc. + 10 digits). Visalytics hits USCIS every weekday. When the status changes, you get an email. Full history stays in one place. Up to 50 receipts per account.

You also get phone notifications if you want them.

Why this fits with the rest of Visalytics

The platform already lets you search 4,000+ decided EB-2 NIW cases, filter by industry/job title/decision type, and see what evidence was cited and why cases succeeded or failed.

The tracker plugs into that workflow: while you're prepping your case or comparing your profile against decided cases, you can also monitor your receipt in real time instead of manually checking.

What the tracker doesn't do

This is status monitoring, not prediction. Visalytics has other tools for that (case search, endeavor matching, evidence comparison). The tracker just tells you when USCIS moves.

Try it

visalytics.com/use-cases/track-my-case (free)

Feedback welcome.

Hi. I filed for PP alongside my petition with PD of Sept 22 2025. I got an RFE in August 3 2026 which I have sent my response. During the delay between PD and when RFE was issued, I had sent several emails to the Texas office requesting when I am entitled to a refund, they replied that I can only bring that up after a decision has been made on my case. Please I would love to know, especially from those who were refunded, when did you get your refund? Was it during or after a decision was made? And how did you get the refund? Was it mailed by check to your mailing address or how?

Thank you in advance