EB1-a vs EB1-b
Indian. Left Walmart for FB last year. Base salary greater than 250k. Have 10+ patent applications, which will hopefully get granted in 3-4 years from now. Held critical high level position at Walmart and similar critical role at FB. Have CS related awards from Govt of India. No papers or citations, but can get FB + Walmart to show my position was research based. I see that I can get 3 criteria for EB1a with a little effort (high salary, critical role, lesser-national award) and then when the patents get approved I will possibly have 1 more criterion filled. Given this scenario, should I go for EB1a or EB1b ? What do you guys think? #eb1 #immigration #gc
Get a great lawyer like Cyrus Mehta and Partners. And let them handle this, I've seen some crazy arguments leading to EB1 GC India.
Thanks for this info. Will look the lawyer up. Do you know of any EB1-a case that got approved on basis of criteria other than citations?
Yes, based on a trade association award + other things like you have.
Also PR like CNBC, and Bloomberg presence (2 times) helped his case.
This is great. Thanks a lot for this info
250k base salary doesn't qualify for high salary in bay area
Don't worry about the salary part. My base is not 250k, and I have that part already verified as a valid criterion
No way, based on the info you gave, you meet 0 criterion.
Care to explain? Would love to know more
I think the 90%ile pay for SWE in the bay is very high, and mostly just goes off base. Equity grants are often ignored. 250k is a really high base if you actually have that, that would probably be fine. Critical role is really hard to define. Need some C-suite person or VP to write about the importance of your role on the company letter head (at FB, lol) Patents would have to be approved first and you'll have to provide evidence of their importance. Besides getting recommendations from renowned experts in your field is not trivial. Of course the lawyers at FB can give better advice.
You wont qualify for either of the EB1.
Right answer
Will still give it a try. Let USCIS turn it down. No harm in trying
As a data point, if it helps, I had a US PhD, 7 patents, 4000+ citations from 20+ peer-reviewed publications 6 letters of recommendation 3 of which were outside of the US. I wasn't considered for EB1A. But I got EB1B approved in 3 days. Which is fair. Even with all this I don't consider myself an eminent scholar (EB1A), perhaps an outstanding researcher (EB1B). Even with that the word 'outstanding' triggers imposter syndrome.
This is useful information. Thanks for sharing. Did you apply in EB1-A and get turned down or your attorney just didn't want to take up the case?
Why try to justify 3 criteria when 2 criteria suffice. If your company is sponsoring EB1B makes more sense. @wysiwys I agree. I'm doing an EB1B and looking at some of the EB1A applicant's credentials certainly makes me feel like an imposter.
EB1A is worth a shot but looks like you meet just one criteria — high salary. You don’t satisfy the Awards criteria unless you have Turing equivalent award in your field. Also note the EB1A bar for critical role or original publications or scholarly impact is very high. I suggest you get on conference committees and try for peer review activities as it is the easiest one to satisfy. Source: I have one EB1B and two O1 approvals.
Hi thanks for the advice. Can I DM you ?
Sure, though it is best to get your profile evaluated by immigration attorneys. I can share my petitions and provide additional guidance but I charge for those services :)
Why not spend money and get GC via EB5 ?
How did it go? Did you end up applying in either of the categories?
Eb1-b has higher approval rate (>90%). Having approved patents alone will not give you approval. Patent licensing is another thing to consider. Citations play a much more important role than publications or granted patents. You will need to show “international recognition” for either case. Without citations, it is not possible. Indian govt awards like Padmashree?
When you say "international recognition" which criteria are you talking about specifically?
According to my lawyers international recognition is needed to have petition approved on a whole. There are individual criteria like you had mentioned which do not alone lead to approval. The reference letters and international recognition make your profile approvable on a whole.