My NIW I-140 Approval Journey (Long post)

My I-140 just got approved. I would like to share my experience in this post. Long post btw.

Priority Date: 07/02/2024

Approved Date: 05/22/2026

Status: F1-OPT, F1-STEM OPT

Profile: Physics PhD, 10 peer-reviewed journals (3 first author), ~150 citations (kind of forgot the exact number), 2 recommendation letters (2 dependent).

Timeline:

Nov 2023: Sent CV to Wegreened for Free Evaluation: https://www.wegreened.com/Free-Evaluation

Nov 2023: Received reply and signed contract for NIW EB-2. (Visa bulletin PD was around Jan 2022 back then).

Feb 2024: Started filling out the I-140 petition questionnaire.

Apr 2024: Finished the draft. After some back-and-forth feedback, prepared supporting materials (citation evidence, etc.) and search for recommenders.

Jun 2024: I-140 package was ready. By that time the USCIS processing time says 12 months, and my STEM OPT expires in Aug 2026, so I decided NO Premium Processing (PP).

--- Then, USCIS processing times just kept getting longer and longer ---

Sep 2025: Filing date became Current. I was stubborn and still did not PP.

Mar 2026: Final action date also became Current. Couldn't take the anxiety anymore. PP.

May 2026: Approved on the 43rd business day (out of 45). Close call.

During my PhD, I barely gave green cards a second thought. My naive assumption back then was either: (1) I’d stay in academia, and the university would handle my visa, or (2) I’d go to industry and worry about it after getting an H1B lottery win. Although I had heard of pathways like NIW EB-1 or EB-2, phrases like "National Interest Waiver" or "Alien of Extraordinary Ability" sounded like they required thousands of citations. I assumed it had nothing to do with me, so I never looked into it. Plus, I thought, "I’m on a non-immigrant F1 visa right now; a green card isn't something I can handle at this stage"  

That was completely wrong. If anything, the earlier you look into this, the better you can plan your way.

After I graduated, various peers around me kept pushing me to prepare for NIW. They told me my profile was more than enough, that EB-2 was a safe bet, that I needed to lock in a Priority Date ASAP due to the backlogs, and having a green card would give me way more leverage and backup options (even a few months as a research assistant is much easier to arrange if you have status) if finding the next postdoc got challegening (Guess what...). I was convinced. So, swallowing my imposter syndrome (which was totally unnecessary in hindsight), I submitted the Free Evaluation. The lawyers recommended going with NIW EB-2. But I did not sign up the contract immediately yet. 

Filling out that evaluation form was what finally got me to seriously dig through forums and research the entire process. In my network, someone actually handled their entire I-140 and I-485 by themselves without a lawyer. He shared this great website with me: https://andreychemist.github.io/, which contains document formats, templates, and process explanations used along the way. After looking through it, I came to the quick conclusion: "I'd better not DIY this," and went straight to sign with the lawyers.

Wegreened has a very clean, organized website where I uploaded my documents and filled out the questionnaire for the I-140 petition. The questions were basically: (1) What is your future proposed endeavor in the US, and why is it important? (2) What did you do in the journals you published (or got your name on), how impactful are they, and how do they relate to your proposed endeavor in (1)?

My personal research area is astrophysics—the stuff that is very, very far away from Earth. When I was writing this form, I was plagued with doubt. I kept thinking, "Can this stuff really convince anyone that it concerns national interest?" I dragged my feet for a long time. After finishing it, I nervously handed it over to the lawyers (they assign a lawyer from their team who is more familiar with your field to handle your case), only to get a very blunt piece of advice: "Please elaborate more on why your work is important to the United States."

I felt pretty lost at that moment, so I just put on a thick face and argued that my work helps the US maintain its leadership in scientific research and validates the data quality of space technology (which is a true value of science, seriously). After making that edit, I got a some kind of comment that feels like a "looks good to me."

If you are a grad student,  you might think "looks good to me" usually means the person didn't look at it at all. But let me clarify here: as you can tell, my understanding of the green card process and standards was incredibly lacking. I couldn't tell what was good or what wasn't enough. On the other hand, the Wegreened team has handled tens of thousands of NIW EB-2 cases with a stellar success rate. If they say it's fine, then it's fine.  Also their website questionnaire did ask a lot, just answer them accordingly and don't overthink.  Trust the professionals. This is one of the biggest reasons to hire a lawyer: even with templates available, I personally still don't know for sure what a "good" I-140 statement looked like.

After finalizing the forms, I actually questioned a line in the proposed endeavor section that said something like, "though the proposed endeavor is different from the previous experience, the technical requirements are aligned." I pointed out that my previous experience and proposed endeavor were not only in the exact same field of astronomy but were also highly similar research topics. The lawyer explained that this is legal jargon designed to give my statement flexibility, e.g., if I move to a different institution or role in the future. This is another area where I'm glad I had professional coverage.

After the I-140 forms were done, I started searching for recommenders. The lawyer asked if I wanted to do 4 letters or 2, noting that 2 letters (1 dependent, 1 independent) should be sufficient for my profile. Naturally, I chose the lazier route. After a stressful round of testing friendships and professional capital, I finally got my PhD advisor (dependent, an immigrant themselves) and another researcher to agree. Only after he agreed did I realize our experience had overlapped in the past, meaning he was also a dependent recommender. The lawyer said, "No problem, let's roll with it." Again, if they say it's OK, it's OK. There is the second major reason to hire a lawyer: finding recmmenders to write me a letter is hard enough (I actually only reached out to people I knew), and academic letters of recommendation are different from green card letters. I definitely want a lawyer to draft them.

After submitting the I-140, I traveled abroad twice on my F1 visa. At that time, my I-485 filing date wasn’t Current yet, and CBP didn't ask me anything about the I-140 during reentry. 

While waiting, people asked me why I didn’t just PP it. My thought was: "The priority date isn't current yet anyway, what difference would PP make?" So, I kept waiting.

September 2025, my I-485 filing date suddenly became Current (there was an epic jump in the visa bulletin). With less than a year left on my STEM OPT, I started wanting to go for PP. I emailed the lawyer with my plan: hit PP on the I-140 while simultaneously prepping the I-485 materials.

Their reponse was to consider this carefully; They strongly advised against concurrent filing before the I-140 is approved, and mentioned a recent trend where PP seemed to trigger more Requests for Evidence (RFEs). According to their team's internal data for NIW EB-2 cases, the approval rate without PP was 100%, but with PP, it dropped by about 5% (Which, is still very high). At the time, I figured I'd be job hunting over the next few months anyway. I didn't know if I'd land a second postdoc, or if that postdoc would only offer a J-1 visa (which would conflict with a pending 485), so I decided to hold off until early next year. Back then, the USCIS estimated processing time was 16 months (and steadily climbing). I thought, "Hey, November will hit the 16-month mark, how about we wait."  Then November came, and the wait time jumped to 20 months. Endless delays just like writing my research papers.

Eventually, I crunched the numbers. If I wanted to submit the I-485 by late June, and assuming it takes a month to prep the 485 package, I needed the approved I-140 in hand by late May. Since the physical clock for an NIW I-140 PP is two months, the absolute latest I could mail out the PP request was late March (and that was gambling on a straight approval without an RFE). When March 2026 brought another heroic jump making the final action date Current, I rushed to submit the PP.

The timeline I just calculated was exactly how it played out in reality. The waiting process was absolute mental torture. Plus, once you file the 485, if you are stuck in the US without your EAD card yet, you can't work. The pressure was immense. So, if you are wondering whether you need PP, the additional time upon visa expiration date should be one of your top priority.

Also, it took me three attempts just to successfully file the PP package. Two things went wrong:

1. Payment form issue: Since late October 2025, USCIS stopped accepting traditional checks for certain filings and required the G-1650 authorization form instead. I missed this update, and the package was rejected.

2. The fee change: Starting March 1, 2026, the PP fee increased from $2,805 to $2,965. Because I was mailing it out right on February 27, the timing was awkward. I asked a USCIS Live Agent via Emma, and they told me to write down the new $2,965 fee. I followed their instructions, only to have the package rejected for an "incorrect fee." To make matters worse, the rejection notice never physically made it to my mailbox. After waiting in total silence for 3 weeks, I emailed the Lockbox support (lockboxsupport@uscis.dhs.gov) and finally realized I had been completely screwed by the system.

Lesson: It usually takes about 3–4 days from delivery for USCIS to accept the package and start the clock. The clock starts from the actual receipt date. If you don’t hear anything for a week, just start digging immediately.

I vented about this whole tragedy to the Wegreened team, mostly to keep them in the loop that I was trying to file PP. When they heard about the second rejection, they offered to file it on my behalf as an exception. I ended up handling the third attempt myself, but the offer is very calming. Filing PP itself isn't rocket science, but shit happens. (The best way to avoid this is to plan with a very high margin for error).

During the two months while waiting for the PP results, I got an offer of a research technician, and the institution is sponsoring a cap-exempt H1B. That was the moment the immense pressure finally lifted.

The I-140 finally approved on May 22. Coincidentally, USCIS dropped the PM-602-0199 memo around the same time, making some updates regarding I-485 interpretations, so the landscape might shifting again. To anyone planning a long-term future in the US: no matter what visa you are currently holding, I highly encourage you to educate yourself on green card procedures and immigration policy. There will be plenty of moments of confusion and stress along the way. Push through.

Two final notes:

1. Trust the professionals, not casual chats. Whenever I discussed green cards with peers, everyone had a different story because there are so many pathways. Casual conversations are often riddled with personal biases and misinformation—stuff like "O-1 is impossible to get," "EB2 only requires 5 citations," (there are cases like that!) "EB-1 is so hard you have to be a full professor," or people asking me how I could file an I-140 without a PERM labor certification... Anyway, small talk is not a legitimate source of immigration law.

2. (I use AI to translate most part of this article) Can you DIY the I-140 with AI nowadays? Probably. But I wouldn’t have peace of mind regarding "what constitutes a winning case." As you may be awared that AI tends to agree with you to please you. Unless you truly know what you are doing and have zero anxiety about facing an RFE, paying for a lawyer worth the value. You are paying for a service, but also buying peace of mind and time. Absolute win.

As a side note: The Wegreened team sometimes replied to my questions on Sundays. Either they are working like crazy on weekends, or they have someone working remotely from Japan (?). Either way, I'm incredibly grateful.

That wraps up my I-140 experience. I don't quite feel like I've completely made it out of the woods yet, but I hope my mistake-riddled journey can offer some insights to those who need it. Best of luck to everyone.