EB-1A
EB-1A Extraordinary Ability
Self-petitioned immigrant visa for a person of extraordinary ability in the sciences, arts, education, business, or athletics — sustained national or international acclaim, with no job offer and no labor certification.
EB-1A is the category where a petition clears three criteria on paper and is still denied: Kazarian splits the analysis in two, and the second half asks whether the record reads as sustained acclaim — a question no criterion count answers. Attest sorts every exhibit by the criterion it actually supports, then flags the ones adding volume rather than acclaim.
The document checklist
What the client is asked for — before you have to ask twice.
A new EB-1A starts with this checklist already on the case. Your client sees it in the portal in their own language, uploads from their phone, and each item flips to received as it arrives.
Required
5 items- Passport biographic page, current visa, and I-94
- Current resume / CV
- Evidence mapped to at least 3 regulatory criteria
- Statement of how you will continue work in the field
- Recommendation letters, including independent ones
If it applies
12 items- One-time major achievement (alternative to the three-criteria route)
- Awards — certificates, selection criteria, and the pool judged
- Membership bylaws showing an outstanding-achievement requirement
- Published material about you, with circulation or readership evidence
- Judging record — invitations and completed reviews
- Original contributions — citations, adoption, licensing, implementation
- Scholarly articles and publication record
- Leading or critical role, with evidence of the organization's reputation
- Salary evidence with comparative wage data for the field
- Exhibitions, showcases, or commercial success (arts)
- Prior O-1 or I-140 approval notices (priority date retention)
- Family member documents
What the evidence is measured against
An evidence map, criterion by criterion.
Attest reads every document on the case and maps it to the elements below — marking each one supported or a gap, and citing the page it relied on. A gap is stated plainly rather than papered over.
Where these cases get RFE’d
The grounds USCIS comes back on.
When a notice does arrive, upload it — Attest extracts each request, maps it against what you already have on file, and drafts a cited response plan. The response deadline it finds is docketed only after you confirm it against the notice page itself.
Final merits — three criteria met, acclaim not established
The count is satisfied and the totality still doesn't read as sustained national or international acclaim. A criterion checklist never predicts this one; the shape of the whole record does.
Original contributions lack proof of major significance
Contributions are described and published, but nothing shows the field moved because of them.
Awards are local, institutional, or student-level
The prize isn't shown to be nationally or internationally recognized, and the pool it was won against is never described.
Judging is routine peer review
A handful of manuscript reviews offered without volume, selectivity, or the standing of what was judged.
Published material is about the work, not the person
Coverage names the employer, the paper, or the product and never the beneficiary — or the outlet isn't shown to be major media.
Leading or critical role not documented
The role is asserted without an org chart, a letter from above it, or evidence that the organization itself has a distinguished reputation.
Bring an EB-1A you already have open.
Nothing to migrate. Upload the file you’re working on and see a cited evidence map against these criteria.
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