Research & Impact Survey

This survey gathers your research background, achievements, and impact to create an example petition letter that demonstrates how to present your advanced degree, substantial merit, and national importance for NIW application.

Your progress is automatically saved to the database as you fill in the fields. You can safely leave and return later to continue.

1 of 7 sections

Personal Information

Basic personal and contact information

USCIS Information

USCIS lockbox / filing address for the Form I-140 package you will mail.

Note: The correct mailing address depends on the state where the beneficiary will work, whether you file Form I-140 by itself or with Form I-485, and whether you use premium processing.

Confirm the current address on USCIS before you mail: Direct filing addresses for Form I-140 (official USCIS).

Educational Background

Academic qualifications and education history. Answer N/A if not applicable.

Note: First degree refers to Bachelor's equivalent, second degree refers to Master's, and third degree refers to Ph.D.

Professional Information

Current employment and professional background

Note: If you are a Ph.D. or M.S. student working as a research/teaching assistant, please fill in your research/teaching assistant position. Otherwise, skip this section if you do not have current employment.

Publications

Research publications and journal details

Note: If you have no publications, leave this section blank and click Next.

Citations & Impact

Citation metrics and research impact

Note: If you have no citations, leave this section blank and click Next.

Review Experience, Awards, Membership & Other Achievements

Peer review experience, awards, professional memberships, grants, and other notable achievements

Note: Be specific and complete — list every venue, the impact factor (with the year), and the number of reviews. These details get echoed in the petition letter and the "Thank You Letters" evidence section, so vague answers here lead to vague claims later.

Note: Make the prestige concrete. Selection criteria, applicant pool size, acceptance/win rate, scope (international vs. department-level), and the awarding body's stature all matter. An outside reader won't know that a "Best Paper" is selective unless you say "1 of 5,000 submissions".

Note: Make selectivity clear. Open-to-anyone memberships (e.g., a paid IEEE membership) carry little weight in NIW review; selective ones (Senior Member, Fellow, by-invitation) carry much more. State which tier it is, what the eligibility criteria are, and how you qualified.

Note: For grants and fellowships, include the funding amount, the awarding agency, and how selective the program is. For patents, note novelty and any commercial use or licensing. The achievement name alone (e.g., "NSF grant") doesn't tell the story — concrete details do.

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