I-140 Petition Letter for EB1 Extraordinary Ability (EB-1A) category

EB1A, DIY, Petition Letter.

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Table of Contents

My Journey

I am a PhD student specialized a subfield of Artificial Intelligence, and therefore, my EB1A are filed without having the formal title of “Dr.”. I applied for the EB-1A visa through the Texas Service Center, with premium processing (direct, not following up pp). My application was approved in 10 days. I have over 220 citations (20 of those are from unpublished papers), 10 peer-reviewed publications and 40+ paper reviews. I gathered 6 recommendation letters: 1 from a dependent and 5 from independent sources.

my preparation

Prior to applying for EB-1A, I have consulted with several immigration attorneys. A majority of law firms recommended waiting until I have over 500 citations before applying for EB-1A. Although I had filed my NIW with an attorney, I realized I had done 80% of the work on my own, (and my NIW got denied after rfe). Given this experience, I decided to work on my EB-1A application myself for two main reasons:

  1. Nobody understands my research as deeply as I do.
  2. Filing with an attorney can be expensive (5000~10000 dollars excluding application fee), and with my citation count (200+), there was a higher likelihood of receiving an RFE (Request for Additional Evidence).
  3. I have read through hundreds of EB1A materials, reviewed other people’s applications, studied their EB1A stories, and analyzed EB1A RFE templates. I understand what the IO is looking for, and I know how to highlight my strengths in my petition letter even though my citation record is weak.

I claimed three EB1A categories as below:

  1. Evidence that you have been asked to judge the work of others, either individually or on a panel.
  2. Evidence of your original scientific, scholarly, artistic, athletic, or business-related contributions of major significance to the field.
  3. Evidence of your authorship of scholarly articles in professional or major trade publications or other major media.

There are numerous free EB-1A resources available online. However, my case is a bit different from theirs because I do not hold such strong citation records. In my case, I focused on presenting robust evidence under the “original scientific and scholarly contributions of major significance” category. This category often determines if an applicant receives an RFE or denial. Instead of solely relying on support letters to illustrate the impact of my research, I provided detailed and specific examples to highlight its significance. While I also paid for a DIY service to get access to several other EB-1A petitions, I found that most of the information was readily available online, and the provided petition letters weren’t particularly useful to my situation.

My Petition Letter Packages

If you’re interested in my application materials, which include the I140, I907 forms, petition letter, and statement of purpose. Please note that my template do not contain support letters but the preparation set contains 15 support letters. Here are the details:

My eb1a Package - 199 dollars

For those who have purchased the petition letter package from me, you will receive an additional preparation set. This set comprises:

Note: I did not utilize these resources for my own application as I discovered them after submitting mine. Those materails are indeed very useful for eb1a applications.

If you have any questions regarding the package, please send me an email.

Below are my email and PayPal details. After I receive your PayPal payment, I’ll email you the petition letter package within 24 hours. However, it’s often sooner, typically within 12 hours, depending on the timezone. After your order, please make sure to let me know which DIY package you need.

Preparing the Petition Letter

When applying for the EB-1A (Extraordinary Ability) category, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) uses a two-step approach to evaluate the petitions. This approach ensures both a thorough and fair evaluation of each applicant’s credentials and achievements.

1. Initial Criteria Evaluation

In this initial step, the USCIS evaluates the evidence submitted by the petitioner:

2. Final Merits Determination

After the preliminary assessment, USCIS delves deeper into the submitted evidence to conclusively judge the applicant’s level of extraordinary ability:

The introduction of this two-step approach ensures that both the quantity and quality of the evidence are adequately considered. It’s possible for an applicant to satisfy criteria in the first step but still face denial in the second if the overall evidence doesn’t sufficiently support a claim of extraordinary ability. For potential EB-1A petitioners, it’s crucial to put forth a comprehensive case that not only addresses specific criteria but also clearly showcases the petitioner’s significant achievements and standing in their field.

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