Rohan's EB1A Success: From H1B to Green Card with SGC VIP

Machine Learning Engineer Secured EB-1A Approval with Smart Green Card VIP

Rohan is a machine learning engineer specializing in recommendation systems. His H1B visa has several months remaining before it reaches the six-year maximum.

I can't thank the entire team at Smart Green Card enough. They supported me throughout my EB1A journey until I achieved success. I sent them emails constantly, but they never got annoyed. Every question, no matter how simple, was answered with kindness and expertise. Trust me, follow the Smart Green Card team’s guidance. They have a wealth of experience, and I've seen the positive results myself. The process can be overwhelming at times, but just have faith and trust in the process. When you finally get that visa approval, you'll thank them forever

Rohan - Machine Learning Engineer

During this time, Rohan learned about the EB1A path and joined the Smart Green Card VIP program, aiming to gather evidence for his EB1A application.

Initially, Rohan took advantage of the Smart Green Card self-paced course, which helped him build his EB1A profile by watching EB1A video lessons. However, to fast-track his EB1A application process with personalized guidance, he later upgraded to the VIP plan.

Rohan’s EB1A journey is unique because his H1B visa’s expiration was approaching while he was building his EB1A profile. Read about his journey to discover how he extended his H1B status and also ultimately received EB1A approval. Let’s begin.

Assistance to Navigate the EB2-NIW Petition

Rohan relied on his company to file an EB-2 petition to extend his H-1B status. However, his company paused the PERM process (the first step in the EB-2 green card process) twice due to recent layoffs.

While in the midst of building his EB-1A profile, Rohan contacted our team with the concern that his H-1B was set to expire within a few months and his company hadn’t filed for PERM. After analyzing his profile, our team recommended applying for an EB-2 NIW to extend his H-1B status, as his profile aligned with the EB-2 NIW requirements at that time.

Therefore, in the interim of his EB-1A profile-building process, Rohan also applied for the EB-2 NIW, received approval, and extended his H-1B status.

Smart Green Card’s Approach to Fulfilling the EB-1A Criteria

Based on our tailored EB-1A strategy, Rohan aimed to meet eight EB-1A criteria:

critical role, original contribution, judging, scholarly articles, media, high salary, awards, and memberships.

Original Contribution:

During our team’s strategy call session with Rohan, we discovered that he held a patent through his previous company and that his papers had been cited by prominent researchers in the field.

Our team helped him leverage these aspects to meet the original contribution criteria.

For instance, our team first assisted him in determining whether his patents held major significance within the field. Once this requirement was met, our team then helped him gather a letter of recommendation from a relevant recommender at his previous company. This letter has outlined the impact of his work on the field.

Judging:

Rohan initially struggled to secure judging opportunities in his field, even though our team provided him with a list of relevant openings.

When he expressed this concern, we stepped in to help. Our team assisted him in crafting a strong profile and developing a strategy for personalized pitches to editors. This approach helped him secure judging opportunities.

With our support, Rohan has participated in various judging activities in his field, such as peer reviews, book reviews, and judging awards.

Scholarly Articles:

When our team asked Rohan to write papers leveraging his expertise, he felt nervous as he hadn’t written any previously.

We provided him with a strategy for writing effective papers suitable for journals. However, Rohan still doubted his abilities. At his request, we connected him with other Smart Green Card members in his field to co-author papers.

To our team’s surprise, he utilized the Smart Green Card community very well and co-authored several impactful papers in the field.

Media & Awards:

While Rohan gathers evidence for his EB1A application, our in-house press team crafts a compelling narrative about his achievements and significant work in his field. This narrative is then pitched to our extensive network of journalists.

Our team respects journalistic integrity and never influences the journalists’ decisions. However, due to our compelling story, one or more journalists are often ready to feature our client’s stories. With Smart Green Card’s assistance, Rohan secured five organic press pieces in major publications.USCIS considers such organic press coverage a sign of your extraordinary ability.

Our team also helped him find lesser-known nationally or internationally recognized-awards in his field that he could apply for. This assistance resulted in Rohan securing several awards in his field.

Final Merits Determination:

Our team ensures that every piece of evidence our client gathers to address the EB1-A criteria has elements that establish their extraordinary ability.

Additionally, from Rohan’s profile, we found that he was an active speaker and panel member at many tech conferences, showcasing his expertise in the field. Our team recommended adding this aspect to the final merits determination

What is the one thing you loved about the Smart Green Card VIP?

This was the question our team might ask during the Success Spotlight session calls with our recently EB1A-approved member. In these sessions, other Smart Green Card members can directly ask questions to the successful member.

Rohan answered, “While I was in the Self-Paced Plan (Ultimate Plan), I used to procrastinate a lot. But in the VIP program, their project management system is fantastic! I received constant notifications on my phone about my daily EB-1A tasks to complete. This kept me on track and provided the right direction to gather robust EB-1A evidence to showcase my expertise in the field.

EB-1A Approved:

Even as Rohan neared the maximum duration of his H-1B visa (H-1B max-out situation), he diligently built his EB-1A profile. This proactive approach also enabled him to consider applying for an EB-2 NIW (National Interest Waiver) at one point during his EB-1A journey, which helped him secure an extension for his H-1B visa.

With assistance from the Smart Green Card team and his own dedication, Rohan successfully secured approval for his EB-1A petition without receiving a Request for Evidence (RFE).

Over the past years, we have assisted several clients like Rohan in the machine learning and data science fields, along with many others in various diverse areas of work. You can find more such success stories in our case studies.

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