Published by Mei in General | Updated 2024
If you are not yet at a high level in your career, then proving your EB1 Green Card application may be difficult and you may decide to concentrate on the O-1 visa. It is still very possible that you may be approved.
We have found that the key to success is finding a way to present your work so as to check the boxes on the examiner’s form. Always keep in the back of your mind how success in the arts, business, education are subjective, and so approach your application as you would a legal argument.
If you are an applicant in the scientific and athletic field proving success is easier. Mostly, you are either successful or you are not.
The USCIS developed their “extraordinary ability criteria” to help them quantify you. You must therefore shoehorn your achievements into these criteria to allow them to approve you.
Qualifying for the EB1-EA, while the criteria are similar to the O1- B, the level of scrutiny your evidence comes under is far more thorough. You must decide if you are ready.
- Consider taking non-committal consultations with attorneys (Attorney Guide) to help you judge if your career is worthy. You may be told by those attorneys or a “visabot” that you are not yet ready to apply. Read here if this is the case. Hire the attorney you feel understands you career the best. Perhaps you wish to self-file you might consider using a guide – there are a few (we recommend this one for artists – they have business and athletics on the way)
- Understand the criteria and build / generate the evidence you need to qualify in them. Your evidence will help form your [petition letter].
- Understanding the criteria you need to fulfill concentrate on only the 3 criteria you already have evidence in eg. Judging, press and exhibitions. Over the next 6 months of focused work in these 3 key areas you could be ready to apply.
- Meet with others that have done this. They have more information that you can imagine. Hear where they failed and succeeded. You may be surprised by how open and generous people can be.
- Read our article on moving from the O1 to the EB1 for more inspiration.
Use the information on our site to help you develop your career and build your evidence in such a way as to strategically better qualify you.
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All articles are written from our experiences and the experiences of our colleagues. These are fantastic visas and we wish to empower others in applying. This information is for general guidance only and shouldn’t be considered legal advice.
If you have any questions or encounter any issues that we have left out let us know – it is important that others are aware. Email here!