I received the electronic denial for EB-1 and I’m honestly shocked. In response to the Request for Evidence (RFE) I attached all the bylaws, membership/entry requirements, and proof that the USCIS association criterion was satisfied — all simply ignored. The officer decided that the Council Members weren’t authoritative enough, even though I was accepted based on outstanding achievements — meaning the criterion’s requirements were actually met. And it’s the same for every criterion — it feels like the officer didn’t do a proper analysis. Has anyone appealed after something like this — is it worth it or is it easier to file a new petition?
I received an EB-1 denial after an RFE in a similar situation — the officer flat-out ignored all the evidence submitted and denied on 0 out of 8 criteria. Literally nothing was counted. I had a call with the lawyer; he preliminarily wants to file a lawsuit, says it’s a brazen procedural violation. And this bit about the members of the board being “not authoritative” — I totally recognize that logic: you attach a document, the officer sees it, confirms they saw it, and still denies as if the document doesn’t exist. Before that I dug deeply into appellate case law — there are rulings in favor of applicants precisely when the officer clearly ignored the submitted evidence, so going to court isn’t that hopeless.
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