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Extraordinary ability cases
Get a report scored across EB-1A & EB-2 NIW, with your evidence gaps and a step-by-step roadmap.
Get my readiness report →You do not have to wait for a green light to start. Judging can be peer review, conference review panels, or hackathon judging. Original contributions can be documented with independent letters and adoption evidence. Authorship, selective memberships, and press each take lead time to line up. Treat it as a two-year evidence project you start now, not a form you fill out later. What is the one criterion you could start strengthening this month?
Both let you petition yourself with no employer, but they test different things. EB-1A demands sustained acclaim and evidence you are at the very top of your field, and it is usually current on the visa bulletin, meaning faster. NIW has a lower bar for standing but requires the national-importance argument, and priority dates can backlog depending on your country. Many people build toward NIW now and EB-1A later as their record grows. Where do you honestly sit today?
EB-1A is the extraordinary ability green card under 8 CFR 204.5(h)(3). There are ten possible criteria, awards, memberships, published material about you, judging others work, original contributions of major significance, authorship, exhibitions, leading roles, high salary, and commercial success. You need to meet at least three, unless you have a one-time major achievement. Then USCIS does a final merits determination on whether you are truly among the top of your field. Meeting three on paper is necessary but not automatically sufficient. Which three are you targeting?
Everyone says do O-1 then EB-1A. Can you go straight to EB-1A self-petition on OPT? What evidence carried your case?