Following are some common mistakes often made by applicants.

1. Seeking Labor Certification without trying NIW even Qualified
One member wrote to us "My company sponsor me the green card. The company attorney filed the labor certification for me. When the Department of Labor posted the recruitment ad, there were so many applicants. We had to withdraw the application. When I found your web site, I bought your ORNIW package and filed for NIW. I got the approval in three months."
Labor certification is slow and risky, especially in bad economic times when you need it the most. Keep in mind, filing for NIW does not conflict with labor certification application both at the same time. You have nothing to lose to file a NIW. 
Recently, we received another sad story. A computer engineer applied for labor certification through RIR (Reduction in Recruitment). Immediately after the company posted his fictitious opening, they received over 200 applications. Soon, the company laid him off together with his entire department. During the times of high unemployment, you got to have some kind of backup, preparing for the worst.

2. Filing an Immigration Petition in Wrong Category
This is a type of obvious mistake. Yet so many applicants have made such mistakes. For an example, someone applies for NIW, but on his petition form, EB1 Extraordinary Ability is checked; someone applies for Outstanding Researcher, but in the cover letter, he/she stated applying under EB2 section 203 (b) (2). These mistakes can be found in the cases of EAC 02 077 50XXX and WAC 00 129 50XXX (case number is incomplete to protect our source of information). These kinds of obvious mistakes are easy to catch and USCIS(INS) will immediately deny a case with such mistakes or incomplete applications. They will cost your money and time (currently $190 for employment-based immigration petition). 
Immigration application should be no harder than your admission application to a graduate school. You can do it yourself. USCIS(INS) has quality assurance review. Therefore, it has no or little influence by the fact that the case is filed by an individual or an attorney. No matter who files for the petition, proper format and rules have to be followed. Paperwork mistakes will lead to denial.

3. Strong Background, Poor Organization of Evidences
Meet the requirements of certain category does not automatically guarantee the approval of an application. You still need to organize the evidences and present them to the USCIS(INS) reviewer and to convince him/her that you are qualified. In the case of WAC 02 190 51XXX, an athlete who has won a gold medal at an international competition is applying for Extraordinary Ability. His background could not be stronger. But the case was so poorly organized, major and minor evidences are simply stacked together. Consequently, pale presentation of the case resulted in failure of the petition. In the case of SRC 00 78 53XXX, the beneficiary is an assistant professor at a public university. Winning such a position out of huge number of applicants, the beneficiary has to have outstanding background to stand atop of peers. But the petitioner, the university, provided shear volume of documents which are far from establishing the beneficiary to be outstanding in his academic field. Naturally, the result is not the beneficiary had wished for.
In NIW applications, this type of mistake is even more prevailing.  In the case of EAC 02 156 51XXX, the petitioner is a special education teacher for children with learning disabilities. One commented on this case "Some of her arguments are hardly comprehensible."

4. Marginal Qualifications, Careless Presentation
A marginal case is such a case that could go either way. If you carefully present your case, you could win the approval from USCIS(INS), if you carelessly present your case, it will be denied by USCIS reviewer. For some categories, the Law does not specify precise standards. Therefore, majority cases under these categories are marginal. This is the fact especially for the categories of National Interest Waiver and Outstanding Researcher. How to present your case becomes so critical.

For more information on Other People's Mistakes, please read our EA and ORNIW application packages.