If you are a researcher born in China Mainland or India, it's a good idea to file your NIW petition as soon as possible.

The citation requirement of EB1A is much higher than that was required before. Even if an applicant has 200 citations, he/she does not have an advantage of applying for an EB1A now. 

Fortunately, USCIS allows an applicant to have multiple approved I-140 petitions. The applicant is entitled to the priority date (PD) of his/her first-approved I-140. The priority date (PD) is decided by the filing date of a case, not the date that USCIS makes a final decision.

If you were born in China Mainland or India and you are currently considering or preparing an EB-1A case, you may consider filing an NIW I-140 petition as soon as possible to secure an earlier priority date (PD). Waiting is not smart, especially when there is always a risk that USCIS may increase their citation requirement of NIW in the future.

If you have an approved NIW I-140 petition, even if you need more time to accumulate sufficient citation counts for EB1 or your first EB-1 is denied, you will be able to port the NIW priority date (PD) to your later-approved EB-1 case. In other words, you can use your earliest priority date (PD) and the fastest visa bulletin.

If you are interested in NIW and/or EB1, you are more than welcome to send your information to us for a free evaluation.

Author: Ge 'Elva' Wang. Elva is a seasoned immigration attorney, with hundreds-of-cases experience in immigration law. She is experienced in EB-1A Extraordinary Ability, EB-1B Outstanding Professor/Researcher, EB-2 National Interest Waiver (NIW), family-based immigration, O-1 Visa: Individuals with Extraordinary Ability or Achievement, and H-1B Visa.