Dr. William:

I would appreciate your comments regarding my EB1 application for Outstanding Researcher. I am now a research engineer in a large company's research institute with H1B visa. I have 12 publications in peer reviewed journals (4 first author, 5 second author), most of the publications are in network security field. I have about 25 citations, and reviewed 6 papers for 2 journals. My question is what kind of reference letters I should get? from someone in my company, or from my previous professors? What else I should know for the reference letters?

---

Answer: 

As a research engineer working in a company's research institute with H1B visa, you need reference letters from both academia and industry. The good reference letters are very important for your EB1-OR petition success. Some of the reference letters should come from the experts with high academic reputation in your field who do not know you personally. It is also better to have high-ranking person in the industry to write the reference letters for you.