We are proud to announce that our EB-1 person of extraordinary ability client has received his immigrant visa! There were no delays and zero Requests for Evidence. Our client, his wife, and two minor children will be moving to the US within six months. Upon entering the US with their immigrant visas, the USCIS will be mailing official green cards to them.

The EB-1 persons of extraordinary ability process consists of two steps. The first one is a Petition for Immigrant Worker (I-140). The second step is an Immigrant Visa application (DS-260) if the petitioner is located outside the US or Adjustment of Status (I-485) if the person is in the US.

In cases such as EB-1 persons of extraordinary ability, there is no employment offer requirement. Therefore, our client was able to petition for himself. There is also no PERM or Labor Certification requirement.

The entire process took a little over a year as our client chose to utilize Premium Processing for the I-140 petition. The USCIS offers Premium Processing for certain employment-based petitions for an extra fee and generally obligates to respond with an answer within 15 days.

Under current rules, persons seeking EB-1 status as extraordinary ability individuals must meet at least 3 of the 10 criteria. Some of the criteria include:

1. Receipt of relatively recent nationally or internationally recognized prizes or awards (for example: a gold medal, a Grammy, the Best Coach of the Year, etc.).
2. Membership in associations which require outstanding achievement of their members.
3. Published materials about the immigrant in major magazines, newspapers, or broadcast.
4. Participation as a judge. The key distinction here is whether the immigrant has judged the work of others at the professional level in the field of immigrant’s endeavor.
5. Immigrant’s original scientific, scholarly, artistic, athletic, or business-related contributions of major significance in the field.
6. Immigrant’s authorship of scholarly articles in the field, in professional or major trade publications or other major media.
7. Immigrant has performed a leading or critical role for organizations or establishments that have a distinguished reputation.
8. A high salary.
9. In visual arts: evidence of immigrant’s work in the field at artistic exhibitions or showcases in more than our country.
10. In performing arts: evidence of commercial success.