I’d like to hear in detail from people who’ve already received an RFE (Request for Evidence). What did the officer accept in your response, what did you have to add, and what exactly was written in the NOID (Notice of Intent to Deny)? If you’ve been through this, please share your experience.
Regarding the response format — it’s better to structure it by the criteria, not by each USCIS paragraph. An officer sees these kinds of responses every day; it’s easier for them when the criterion is stated first and all the evidence for it is gathered together. If you reply to each quote in order, the structure gets lost and the main argument becomes diluted. About the NOID with “not in the top-top” — that’s a typical formulation when the officer lacks a direct comparison to other specialists in the field. Usually letters from people at major companies that explicitly state “one of the best in finance” help — without such wording the officer simply won’t count it.
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Thanks for the tip about structuring by criteria — it really sounds more logical. What did you add to address the phrasing “not in the top-top”? Any other recommendations from better-known people in the industry?
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That wording about “not in the top-top” appears when the officer couldn’t find a direct comparison to other specialists in the field. I went through this myself — in the main petition I apparently didn’t describe the criteria clearly enough, and the officer didn’t understand where I was supposedly “top” or how I met the standard. In the RFE response I had to rebuild the argument so the comparison was clearly visible.
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