O-1A – Manifest Law – Months of delays, poor communication, and now an RFE
I’ve posted about my experience before, but I want to summarize the full situation in one place because I’m at a point where I urgently need advice.
Earlier this year, I started working with Manifest Law on my O-1A business case. Since then, the process has caused major delays and uncertainty in my career, business planning, travel plans, and overall life.
For months, there were significant delays, limited progress, and ongoing communication issues. After I raised concerns, the Manifest Law team reached out several times and assured me they would assign additional support, involve more team members, and help keep the case moving forward. Unfortunately, that did not match my experience. Despite those assurances, progress remained slow, and communication continued to be inconsistent.
Elena from Manifest Law, who had been one of my main points of contact, has now stopped responding to me completely across multiple channels. The other attorneys who were assigned have completely withdrawn as well.
I’m honestly shocked by how this has developed, especially given how important and time-sensitive this case is.
Eventually, my O-1A petition was filed with premium processing, but USCIS issued a Request for Evidence. Based on the RFE, a significant portion of the evidence submitted is now being challenged as insufficient, lacking the right support, or not presented in the right way.
This has left me in an extremely difficult situation. I had already booked flights back to Europe with the expectation of moving forward with consular processing. Now I don’t even have a consular appointment, and my entire plan for the year has been thrown into uncertainty. I can’t sleep, I can’t take on my W2 employment, and my personal life is affected too.
At this point, I need a serious game plan. I cannot continue to just wait, hope things move forward, and risk more of my life, business, and career on unclear next steps.
Is anyone here an experienced O-1A attorney, especially for business, entrepreneurship, marketing, or founder cases, who offers urgent RFE reviews or second opinions?
My understanding is that the RFE response is the critical opportunity to strengthen the case before submission. If the response is not handled properly and the case is denied, I will have lost months of time, the premium processing fee, and potentially the opportunity to stabilize my plans in the U.S.
I would really appreciate recommendations from anyone who has dealt with a complex O-1A RFE before, especially where the original filing may not have presented the evidence strongly enough.