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Hello Peter, Thank you for taking the time to provide insightful answers to our questions. My question concerns EB-1 visas and greencards for extraordinary ab

by awei 3y ago

Hello Peter, Thank you for taking the time to provide insightful answers to our questions. My question concerns EB-1 visas and greencards for extraordinary ability. The usual route to prove 'extraordinary ability' seems heavily skewed towards those with scientific publications under their belt. Would it be possible to qualify for a software engineer leaning towards tangible tech contributions, for example significant commits to open source projects and building online products with a decent user base ?

proberts 3y ago
Absolutely! Most of the EB1As we handle are not done for scientists, they are not done for those with a significant number of impactful publications, they are done for engineers and founders.
- awei 3y ago
  Thanks! Are there any tacit threshold to qualify ?
  - proberts 3y ago
    Not really. But it's critical - in addition to checking at least 3 boxes/criteria - to argue and demonstrate overall sustained achievement in the field.
    - awei 3y ago
      thanks!
marymkearney 3y ago
Hi, yes, you're right, most of the info out there is for researchers and academics. It's not a template that fits well for makers and engineers in private industry, who actually build real things and sell them. There's an EB-1A template that works much better for proving extraordinary ability for industry accomplishments. It's just not well-known or publicized. If you have open-source commits and users for your products, then you're well on your way to a successful EB-1A portfolio. The "academic EB-1A" template is such a universal pain point for tech founders and engineers, that I just launched an online course (my first! yay) on this topic. It explains how to structure O-1s and EB-1As for industry tech and engineering specialties, not academia. https://pro.visabuilder.com/tech-toolbox-product-page https://pro.visabuilder.com/tech-toolbox-product-page

by awei 3y ago

proberts 3y ago

Absolutely! Most of the EB1As we handle are not done for scientists, they are not done for those with a significant number of impactful publications, they are done for engineers and founders.

awei 3y ago
Thanks! Are there any tacit threshold to qualify ?
- proberts 3y ago
  Not really. But it's critical - in addition to checking at least 3 boxes/criteria - to argue and demonstrate overall sustained achievement in the field.
  - awei 3y ago
    thanks!

marymkearney 3y ago

Hi, yes, you're right, most of the info out there is for researchers and academics. It's not a template that fits well for makers and engineers in private industry, who actually build real things and sell them. There's an EB-1A template that works much better for proving extraordinary ability for industry accomplishments. It's just not well-known or publicized. If you have open-source commits and users for your products, then you're well on your way to a successful EB-1A portfolio. The "academic EB-1A" template is such a universal pain point for tech founders and engineers, that I just launched an online course (my first! yay) on this topic. It explains how to structure O-1s and EB-1As for industry tech and engineering specialties, not academia. https://pro.visabuilder.com/tech-toolbox-product-page https://pro.visabuilder.com/tech-toolbox-product-page