r/eb1a_community

Hello everyone, I need some advice on the way forward. I submitted my eb1a application on august 22nd 2025, it got updated on September 1st, 2025, with "Case is still being processed by USCIS". Then RFE was issued on September 22nd, 2025, RFE response was sent in on December 1st, 2025. The only update I have received was on July 30th, 2026, which is "Fee Refund Was Mailed" since my application was PP right from first submission. I am just anxious with the whole delay. Thank you

Context: EB1A (India) I140 PD Apr 19,2023
Filed for 485+765+131 Jan 2026.
Biometrics : Jan 2026

No EAD/AP yet

FTA1 on 485 in Mar 2026 (no movement since then)

If predictions turn out to be current and spillovers bring the FAD to April by early next year, would an already filed 485 help move things faster?
At this point I don’t expect movement on EAD/AP because normal processing times are over 10 months as per USCIS.

Can anyone having experience with a similar situation, provide an insight into how it went for you?

If you are on an H-1B and your daughter was born in the US, you have probably already had someone tell you just wait, she will sponsor you. It's one of the most common questions we see in this community, so let's break down what's actually true, what's a myth and what your real options look like.

The myth, cleared up first:

Having a US citizen child does not automatically get you a green card, and it doesn't speed anything up while she's a minor she can only file a petition for a parent once she turns 21. Most H-1B holders end up getting their green card through their own employment, not through family.

Your real pathways right now:

1. Employer sponsored green card (PERM → EB-2/EB-3) the standard route most H-1B professionals take.
2. EB-1A (Extraordinary Ability) self-petition without an employer, if you have strong achievements in your field.
3. National Interest Waiver (EB-2 NIW) self petition based on the national importance of your work.
4. Plan around your daughter's future sponsorship once she turns 21, she can file for you as an immediate relative.

Don't guess but get it evaluated properly:

Every case is different, and picking the wrong strategy can cost you years. This is exactly where talking to real H1B visa experts pays off. A lot of members here have had their cases reviewed by Raghu Suram, and it's worth reading through the reviews and case outcomes shared in this community before deciding your own path. Getting a proper case evaluation from experienced experts early can save you years of guesswork.

Have you had your case evaluated yet? Drop your situation in the comments years on H-1B, category you are considering or questions about the EB-1A/NIW route and let's help each other figure out the fastest legitimate path forward.

This post is for general informational purposes only and isn't legal advice always confirm your specific strategy with a qualified immigration attorney.

Spend enough time in this sub, Team Blind or any immigration forum honestly and you will see the same few myths repeated as fact over and over. Figured it's worth addressing a few of them directly, since they end up scaring off people who'd actually have a solid shot, and giving false confidence to people who don't.

Myth #1: EB-1A is basically a Nobel Prize / Einstein visa

This one gets repeated so often it's basically folklore at this point. In reality, USCIS doesn't require you to be a global superstar the standard is "extraordinary ability," which legally means you're among a small percentage at the very top of your field, not that you need a Nobel or a Turing Award. Plenty of approved profiles are engineers, researchers, and professionals with strong but not celebrity-level records who met 3+ of the 10 criteria and built a coherent case around them.

Myth #2: You need a PhD to qualify

Nowhere in the criteria does it say anything about degrees. What matters is evidence of extraordinary ability in your field original contributions, judging, leadership roles, media coverage, high salary, etc. Plenty of approved EB-1A cases have no PhD attached at all. A strong bachelor's-level profile with real impact will beat a mediocre PhD profile every time.

Myth #3: Getting an RFE means you're getting denied

This one causes so much unnecessary panic. An RFE is USCIS asking for more evidence or clarification it is not a rejection. Plenty of RFE cases go on to get approved once the response addresses USCIS's specific concerns properly. It's stressful, sure, but it's a normal part of the process for a meaningful chunk of cases, not a red flag that your petition is doomed.

So drop a comment and share your thoughts on these Myths:

• Which criterion took you the longest to actually build evidence for?
• Which one did you think would be easy but turned out to be a nightmare?
• Any criterion you assumed you'd need but ended up dropping from your petition entirely?

Okay, so I have been waiting to write about this on Reddit for quite some time, I used to half write it and close the tab because I didn’t know how to start. But here it goes.

Hi, I am Mr. Jain I work in backend engineering / FinTech APIs and somewhere in the middle of my EB1A journey, USCIS actually said yes.

I filed my I-140 at the start of 2025, and if you have been through this, you know the waiting afterward is its own special kind of patience test. I refreshed my case status page more times than I would like to admit. Then the approval came through, and more recently December 2025 I had my biometrics appointment, since I filed I-485 concurrently. So the I-140 chapter is closed and now I'm in the AOS waiting room with everyone else. Still feels a little unreal typing that out.

Here's the part I actually want to talk about, because I think it's the part that quietly stops a lot of engineers before they even start: I don't have papers. I don't have patents. My work is backend systems, API design, scaling infrastructure the kind of stuff that mostly shows up as "nothing broke" rather than anything you can hold up and point to. Before I filed, I read a lot of EB1A reviews and success stories, and almost all of them were researchers or people with some kind of public-facing achievement. I remember thinking, okay, this clearly isn't built for someone like me.

Turns out I was wrong. Three criteria carried my case:

Leading or critical role being the person a system genuinely depended on, and actually being able to prove that with documentation, not just a job title.

Original contributions of major significance took the most effort to put into words. Not "I built a good API," but the actual before and after: what changed because of decisions I made and evidence that other people or teams noticed and built on it.

High salary/remuneration benchmarking my compensation against wage data for the field. Way more straightforward than I expected once I had the right comparisons in hand.

Honestly, the paperwork wasn't the hard part. The hard part was convincing myself my work was "extraordinary" enough to even try. Talking to a few people who have actually seen how EB1A cases get evaluated helped me a lot in framing mine.

If you are in backend, infra, or FinTech and you are assuming this door isn't open to you it might be, more than you think. A lot of this kind of impact is real, it's just invisible until someone writes it down properly.

Happy to answer questions about the process, the biometrics step or how I mapped my work to these criteria.