Seeking help for NIW RFE
Hey everyone, hoping to get some guidance from folks who've navigated a similar situation.
Background:
Master's degree + currently pursuing a PhD in a STEM field at a US university
Filed my I-140 with 2 published papers (1 first-author) and 1 additional first-author + 2 co-author papers that were accepted but not yet officially published at the time of filing
Those pending papers are now published online
Submitted 5 LORs, including one from a national lab professor
The RFE:
The RFE covers all three prongs of the Dhanasar framework, and it looks pretty templated. For Prong 2 specifically, it mentions I should submit my degrees and LORs, both of which I already included in the original petition.
My questions:
Has anyone dealt with a similarly templated RFE hitting all three prongs? Is this common or a red flag?
For the papers that were accepted but not published at filing and are now live, how do I best present these in the response? Should I include citation counts, journal impact factors, or download stats?
Any tips on strengthening the Prong 2 response beyond just resubmitting the degrees and LORs I already provided?
Is it worth getting an immigration attorney at this stage if I've been self-petitioning?
Any advice or experience is appreciated, especially from STEM PhD folks or anyone familiar with the current USCIS memo on NIW adjudications