EB1 Green Card 8 C.F.R. 204.5(h) (3) – Have any of Your Published Articles Gone Through Peer Review and/or Have Been Cited by Others in their Academic Published Work? *

EB1 Green Card - Having your academic published in a well respected peer reviewed journal is an excellent way to establish that your work is indeed scholarly and that its quality made an impact; the article’s reliability has been tested and found to be credible. This is a good way to get the positive attention of any EB1 green card examiner.

Scholarly Articles

EB1 Check List:

Evidence of Eligibility: 8 C.F.R. 204.5(h) (3)

(vi) Evidence of the alien’s authorship of scholarly articles in the field, in professional or major trade publications or other major media;

For EB1 green card examiners this is a really tricky area and an area where the Appeal Courts have had to strike down their over zealous interpretations as to the plain reading of this statutory requirement.

The central question has been, is the mere publication of a scholarly article sufficient to satisfy this category? The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit Kazarian v. USCIS filed March 4, 2010 has decided that mere publication by itself is not sufficient, a little more supporting evidence is needed to show some measure of impact that article had in the community.

Virtually all PHD level academics have to be published somewhere in order to get their PHD. Same as all Lawyers have to pass the State Bar Exam to become attorneys. So merely being published cannot distinguish the alien as having risen to the top of their profession just because they have been published. EB1 green card examiners therefore need a more robust and objective basis to determine whether an article has made any kind of impact and remember these EB1 green card examiners are lay-people and therefore need to be able to consider the evidence objectively without having to know anything about the area of study.

EB1 Green Card: Peer reviewed articles definitely carry more weight than non-peer reviewed work and is a much easier sell to US Immigration. However, peer review is not the only way to establish the significance of one's published work and other or additional avenues should also be explored.

Peer Review: Academics will know that there are some ‘soft’ publications where you can submit your article to be published and as long as the subject is of interest to the publication they will publish it. However, there are some publications that will receive your work but then subject your work to what is called Peer Review where other qualified and respected academics try to test the merit worthiness of the article.  The process of peer review can take six months or more and the article may under go several revisions before it can be proved of a sufficiently high standard to be published.  Any academic who has been through the peer review process will know exactly what I’m talking about.  So it is safe to say that if an alien’s work has gone through the peer review process it is regarded as being more influential and substantive in value to the community than an article published without peer review. Also, within the academic community there are magazines / journals that are well known for only publishing articles that have been peer reviewed.

Citations by Other Academics: Another question an EB1 green card examiner can reasonably ask is whether the alien’s article has been cited in the work of other academics. The rationale being that no academic would reference other work in their paper unless it was considered to have merit and furthered the aims of their paper. EB1 green card examiners can therefore, without even reading the alien’s article determine the merit of the article by simply confirming the number of times the alien’s work has been cited by other academics.

If the alien’s article has not be cited by any other academic, nor been subjected to peer review then it is quite easy for an EB1 green card examiner to quickly become highly skeptical and be persuaded that the article did in fact have any impact all as required under the Ninth Circuit Kazarian v. USCIS affirmed standard. Nevertheless 8 C.F.R. 204.5(h) (3) does allow the alien to submit any other evidence they feel may corroborate objectively any claim as to the article’s impact.

As your attorney my role will be to work very closely with you in the collation of any published article as USCIS have very stringent protocols that must be followed in order the verify their objective requirements. This can be quite a painstaking exercise but if at the end the EB1 green card examiner is impressed by the quality of the documentation presented then getting the case approved will be far more likely. EB1 green card examiners are a tough crowd as they say and therefore as an experienced EB1 attorney I’ve had to learn how to consistently win them over.

 By Attorney Chris M. Ingram

EB1 Green Card Checklist -
One Time International Award -
National Award -
Invited Membership -
Published Material About You -
Judging -
Innovation -
Scholarly Articles -
Exhibition or Showcases -
Leading / Critical Role -
High Salary -
Commercial Success -

US Immigration Law Offices of Chris M. Ingram
Chris M. Ingram LL.M., ESQ – Immigration Attorney
Admitted in New York.
Practice Specializing in US Immigration Law
520 Broadway, Suite 350,
Santa Monica,
California 90401
Tel: 310 496 4292

Everyday the Law Offices of Chris M. Ingram provides a comprehensive range of US Immigration expertise. We also provide a free consultation for our prospective clients. 

General Location:   Santa Monica , Santa Clarita, Los Angeles, California, USA.
Serving all 50 States
Copyright 2010

Please note that nothing contained in this website or link therefrom shall be regarded as providing legal advice. Please contact us directly for legal advice specific to your situation. Thank You.