Advantages of the EB-1A Visa

The EB-1 visa provides a unique path to settling permanently in the US and provides many benefits:

Pathway to citizenship

After holding the EB-1 green card for 5 years, you can apply for US citizenship

No employer required
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To apply for an EB-1 visa, you don’t need an employer to sponsor your application

Family reunification

Your family members will get their green cards too

Career freedom
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On an EB-1 visa you can establish your own company or be employed

No queue
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Unlike EB-2 NIW, there’s no queue for EB-1 green cards

Fair assessment
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Unlike the green card lottery and family-based green cards, EB-1 visas are given based on the applicant’s merits, and the US is interested in getting talented specialists

In 2023, there were 15905 petitions submitted for an EB-1A visa. Of these, 10356 were approved — that’s 65%.

EB-1A Visa Requirements and Criteria

To qualify for an EB-1A visa, you’ll need to show at least 3 of the criteria below:

International or national prizes or awards in your industry

Provide a photo of a trophy or photocopy of a certificate and attach a supporting letter, describing in great detail the history of the competition, how many people were considered, how many people pay any notice to this, the criteria you had to meet to be considered, who the judges were, etc.

Read more about the “Awards” criteria →

Membership in an association for professionals with outstanding abilities

Provide a certificate of membership or personal account of a member or another form of proof. You’ll need to also add confirmation that the association only accepts truly outstanding members. This can be proven with membership rules or a letter from a senior member. Provide links, the bylaws, and proof of how you were accepted.

Read more about the “Membership in associations” criteria →

Published material in professional or major trade publications or major media about you

Provide a copy of the article along with its translation, if needed. Also include a screenshot, dictating the website traffic. You’ll also need to prove the authority of the publication by its position in ratings, volumes of citations, or other means.

Read more about the “Published material about you in the media” criteria →

Original contributions of major significance to your field

You can provide proof of this by including copies of research papers, patents, copyrights, or proof your project was the first one to use any specific new technology.

Read more about the “Original contributions” criteria →

Authorship of articles in professional or major trade publications or major media

Include the publication text, cover, publication date, source, table of contents, and certificate of publication. Also include reviews of your work and a conclusion from the publishing house. If it’s a scientific research article, you’ll need to include people who have cited your work, the impact factor, and DOI. However, depending on your field, proving this may look different. For example, if you were a coder, you could showcase your article that was featured in a professional media outlet.

Read more about the “Authorship of scholarly articles” criteria →

Employment in a critical or essential capacity for a company or organization that has a distinguished reputation

To prove that your company has a distinguished reputation, you’ll need to provide a description of the company’s work and show awards, top ratings, any press coverage of the company, evidence of financial success such as annual shareholder reviews or volume of sales, the number of employees and offices, any patented solutions, and anything else that’s important to your company and its success. You’ll also need to prove that you worked in an essential role with letters from your bosses, investors, or managers.

Read more about the “Employment in a critical or essential capacity” criteria →

Participation on a panel, or individually, as a judge of the work of others

Include copies of official documents, mentions of the event in the newspaper, explain why you were asked to judge and who you judged, or other proof.

Read more about the “Judging” criteria →

Proof of a high salary or other remuneration

For this, you’ll need to prove your salary is considerably higher than the average salary of a specialist in the same profession as you. To do this, you’ll need to provide articles or statistics on the labor market in your region.

Read more about the “High salary” criteria →

Proof of your commercial success in the performing arts

You can demonstrate this by showing box office ticket sales, reviews, the number of places it was shown, or other documents.

Read more about the “Commercial success in the performing arts” criteria →

Proof that your work has been displayed in exhibitions or showcases

For this, you can include newspaper clippings, the leaflet from the showcase or exhibition, letters of support from the manager of the showcase or exhibition, or other documents.

Read more about the “Exhibitions” criteria →

You’ll need to prove you have an extraordinary ability in the sciences, education, business, or athletics.

Take a test

EB-1A Visa Costs and Timeline

Case preparation:

5 months (without publicity boosting)

Final decision:

6-12 months or 15 days with premium processing**

The cost of our services (incl. attorney's fees):

€14500

Processing fees:

I-140 filing fee

$715

Asylum fee

$300 / $600

depending on the company size

Medical examination:

>$200 per person

Fees upon approval:

Outside the USA

DOS visa fee

$345

USCIS immigrant fee

$220

Inside the USA

Change of status

<$2330*

per person, including family members

The cost includes a change of status — $1,440 or $950 for children under 14 while applying with a parent, a work permit — $260, and an entry permit — $630.

**Premium processing is optional:

$2805

EB-1 Visa Process

The EB-1A visa application process with Relogate® takes about 5 months depending on the case

1. Consultation & Scoring

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Free consultation from Relogate_®

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Paid consultation with our trusted immigration attorney ($250)

2. EB-1 Visa Case Preparation

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Defining your EB-1A visa case strategy under the immigration attorney’s guidance

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Preparing all the needed documents by the Relogate team

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Getting PR done with the help of our PR-partners

3. Case Finalization & Submission

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Review of your EB-1A visa case and preparation of the cover letter through the immigration attorney

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Your EB-1A visa case submission

4. Case Review & Decision

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Based on the review, you will either get an approval

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Or Request for Evidence. If you get an RFE, the immigration attorney and our team will respond to the RFE (we charge an additional fee for RFE responses).

Reasons to Include an Immigration Attorney

Having an immigration attorney ensures that you’ll have the best chances. An immigration attorney can advise on which visa path best fits your qualifications, the best way to proceed with employment, how to enhance your publicity, and a general case strategy. In addition to this, only immigration attorneys have the right to give legal advice. And an immigration attorney would be the one to write a cover letter for your EB-1A application, which is the case’s most important document.

Our trusted immigration attorneys →

Reasons to Work with Relogate

Successful cases

150+

Save your time

Relogate will prepare all the necessary documents, from letters of recommendation to explanatory notes

Quality Guranteed

You will have an immigration attorney on your case

All-in-one service

Our partners can help you with PR, employment, translations, and more

Relogate can help determine which option is best for you and help secure it.

EB-1 success stories:

Mikhail Belstar, a UX/UI designer at Warner Brothers

Davlat Kendjaev, IT expert

Want to get an EB-1 visa too?

Free consultation

Publicity Enhancement

Having a great publicity when applying for the EB-1A talent visa can vastly increase your chances. If your publicity needs enhancement, Relogate provides additional services. Publicity might look like this:

Articles written by you.
Good search engine results when someone looks up your name.
Interviews given to media outlets.
Being featured as a judge on a competition.
Being a keynote speaker at an event.
Getting an industry award.

Our trusted partners →

Not sure whether it’s best to apply for an EB-1 visa?

You might want to consider other options as well. For example, an O-1 talent visa or an EB-2 NIW visa.

The O-1 talent visa, though non-immigrant, allows you to move to the USA much quicker or maintain a legal status in the US if you’re already here. Once you get the O-1 talent visa, you can build up your case and switch to an EB-1A visa and get a green card. The EB-2 NIW is an immigrant visa, the same as the EB-1A visa, but the criteria are much less strict.

Common Errors

Make sure you don’t fall for these common traps:

Don’t list more than one professional activity. For example, if you are an actor and a director, choose one. Don’t list both.
Don’t make claims without hard evidence. If you claim you are the best performing member on your team, back it up with proof.
Don’t choose a different career from a sudden career change. Make sure your timeline of experience matches up.
Don’t forget to make sure all your forms are up-to-date and include signatures, if needed.
Don’t underestimate including recommendation letters. These letters can be crucial to your case. They should be in great detail and discuss your work and success. The people who write the recommendations should be recognized and reputable experts in your field, giving your whole application an extra boost.

Secure your EB-1 visa with Relogate

Free consultation →

Aya

Relocation expert

General Information

EB-1 Visa Case Structure

Forms and official documents

First, you will need to provide the following forms:

Form i-140 - Immigrant Petition for Alien Workers.
Form G-28 - Notice of Entry of Appearance as Attorney or Accredited Representative, which establishes the eligibility of your attorney or accredited representative to represent you.
Form G-1145 - e-Notification of Application/Petition Acceptance, which will allow the US government to communicate with you and convey any approval via email or text.

Additionally, if you’re already in the US, you’ll need to file:

Form i-485 - Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status.

Optionally, if you would like to have your case reviewed at the fastest processing speeds (in 15 days), then you’ll need to pay a premium processing fee of $2,805 and file:

Form I-907 - Request for Premium Processing Service, which allows you to take advantage of faster processing and speed up the whole process.

Official Documents:

Duty payment receipt forms.
Scans of your passport(s) and US visa(s), if any.
Scans of the passports of any accompanying family members, along with copies of their marriage/birth certificates.

Visa case documents

Cover letter that is drafted by an immigration attorney. This is the most important document for the EB-1A visa case, as the immigration officer will first read it in full and make a decision based upon whether or not to continue. In this document, the immigration attorney states the client’s eligibility and provides excerpts, links, and quotes from the accompanying evidence documents to confirm every word and save the officer time from having to jump from page to page in the packet of 700+ pages of evidence for the EB-1A petition. This cover letter can range from 20-100 pages, depending on the case.
Thorough evidence that confirm your eligibility for the EB-1 visa. This can run anywhere from 700 to 3000 pages. For example, if you need to prove that you have a high salary for your field based on your experience, you’ll have to provide a letter from an expert in your field, a certificate from a salary comparison website, published statistics, articles about salary rates, and a translated tax report. So each piece of evidence that you provide requires many pages. Furthermore, we always show as much evidence as possible.

Steps After Case Submission At The Embassy

After receiving your EB-1A approval, you will either have to go to the US embassy or consulate in your place of residence to get a visa, or if you are already in the United States, you will have to apply for an adjustment of status.

Interview

If everything is all right and you are invited to the interview, remember to practice your answers in advance. You should be calm, collected, and confident.

Questions you will be asked at the interview

The questions are usually pretty straightforward, such as:

What is your name?
What company do you work for?
Have you ever been to the US before?
Where will you be living while in the US?
Have you ever been convicted of a crime?
How long have you been working in your field?
What are your extraordinary abilities that make you eligible for the talent visa?

Documents you might need at the embassy

Valid passport.
DS-260 confirmation page that confirms your embassy appointment.
Application fee payment receipt.
Visa photos (if requested on DS-260).
Copy of your approval notice.
Any official higher education diplomas you included in your case.
Resume.

NB!

In rare cases, the embassy may issue a refusal under section 221(g), this means that you did not establish eligibility for the visa. In this case, they may ask for you to provide some more documents, which you must do in a timely manner. This process is also called Administrative Processing.

Our trusted immigration attorneys will prepare you for the interview.

Get the visa

Family Reunification Rights

If your EB-1 petition is approved, your spouse and unmarried children under the age of 21 can apply for admission to the United States for E-21 immigrant status. They will also be given green cards, which allow them the ability to study, work, and apply for citizenship after 5 years.

Responsibilities of US Residents

Once you receive your EB-1 green card, you will officially be a US tax resident and will be required to file a tax return every year. US taxes can be quite complicated, and so you may want to utilize the help of a tax attorney, accountant, or tax software.

If you are an EB-1 green card holder, you must not be outside of the US for a period of more than 6 months. If you are spending more time outside of the US than within the US and fail to inform immigration that you are giving up your EB-1 green card, immigration will consider this green card abandonment, and you will face potential US re-entry denial in future trips. They also may refuse to give you a visa or green card in the future.

However, there are some exceptions to this rule. For example, if you have to leave the US for educational reasons, you must inform immigration beforehand so they approve your long-term absence, and you must apply for re-entry.

In addition to these tax and residence responsibilities, males from the ages of 18-25 that are green card holders must apply for Selective Service, in the rare case that the government begins a draft for a war.

Applying for US Citizenship

After holding your EB-1 green card for 60 months, you will be eligible to apply for US citizenship. It’s important to note that during this time period, you should have no absence that lasts longer than 1 year, and overall, half of the entire time of holding the green card must have been spent in the US. In addition to this, the US requires you to be a person of upstanding moral character.

In addition to gaining a US passport and voting rights, you will also become a permanent US tax resident. The United States is one of the few countries in the world that taxes its expats, so if you ever move abroad but still have US citizenship, you will still have to file taxes.

Start your journey to the US citizenship

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FAQ

What is an EB-1A visa to the USA?

The EB-1A visa is an immigrant visa which is suitable for people with extraordinary ability in Business, Arts, Sports, Science, Film, etc. It is sometimes called a Talent or Einstein Green Card.

Who can apply for an EB-1 visa?

The range of professions is extensive - from software engineers, UX/UI designers, product managers, CEOs to founders, producers, investors, and dancers.

How long is the US EB-1 visa valid for?

The EB-1 visa converts into a green card and grants you permanent resident status. You remain a permanent resident of the US for as long as you obey the law.

What are the requirements of the US EB-1A visa?

To be eligible for the US EB-1A visa you need to show that you satisfy at least three the following criteria:

Awards
Membership in an association
Expert articles written by you
Articles about you
Major contribution to the field
Critical or leading role in a company
High salary
Judging
Commercial success in performing arts
Participation in exhibitions or showcases

Can I bring my family to the US on an EB-1 visa?

You can bring your spouse and your children under 21 years of age to the US on the EB-1 visa, and they will be given green cards.

Do I have to apply for an EB-1 visa inside the US?

You can apply for the EB-1 visa from the US or your home country.

Do I need an immigration attorney to apply for an EB-1 visa?

Yes, an immigration attorney is necessary if you want to amplify your chances of your EB-1 visa application being approved. An immigration attorney will help you build the case strategy as well as provide you with legal advice.

Do I need to have PR done for the US EB-1 visa?

The more publicity you have, the higher your chances for your EB-1 visa being approved.

Do I need an employer to apply for an EB-1 visa to the US?

To apply for the US EB-1 visa you do not need an employer in the USA but showing letters of intent from prospective employers or clients might strengthen the case.

How do I get the US EB-1A visa?

You have to satisfy at least three out of 10 criteria to qualify for an EB-1A visa for people with extraordinary ability in business, arts, science, sports, or education.

What benefits does an EB-1A visa have?

After holding the EB-1A visa for 60 months, you can apply for US citizenship.
Your family members can get green cards too.
You don’t need an employer to sponsor your EB-1A application.

Move to the USA with an EB-1 visa

What is an EB-1A visa?