For the EB-1A media coverage criterion, it’s not enough to simply have your work indirectly mentioned as part of a media piece about your employer and their work.

Doing a lot of one type of profile-building activity (like judging) does not mean you have a strong EB-1A case.

For the leading or critical role EB-1A criterion, you don’t currently have to be in a leading or critical role to meet the criterion.

Just because your work impacts your field outside of your employer does not mean you meet the original contributions criterion.

Why does EB-1A profile-building usually take years for junior or mid-level professionals?

On what to consider when looking for events to attend, volunteer at or speak at to build your EB-1A profile:

A strong job title may not be enough for EB-1A.

It took one day.

One day for his EB-1A to get approved.

For EB-1A, extraordinary ability does not mean showing that you’re at the top within the group of professionals who also have your job title.

You can still profile-build for EB-1A without a strong anchor criterion.

USCIS is not looking for a specific type of activity in EB-1A applicants.

Having a bunch of publications and a master’s degree is most likely not going to be enough for EB-1A.

It’s possible to file both EB-1A and EB-2 NIW at the same time.

If you have not been professionally involved in your field outside of your work at your company, you’ll want to start doing activities outside of work to build a strong EB-1A profile.

USCIS will compare you to other applicants in your field to see if you’ve really risen to the top of your field.

Is it possible to build a strong EB-1A case without meeting the leading or critical role and high salary criteria?

A lot of people I talk to meet three and sometimes even four criteria (usually high salary, critical or leading role, and original contributions or judge of the work of others), but think they do not have a strong EB-1A case.

They think they need to have publications, media about them or awards to have a strong case but the reality is that if you meet three EB-1A criteria, specifically high salary, leading or critical role and one other criterion, you are at least minimally qualified for EB-1A.

What makes you at the top of your field?

That’s the question USCIS will be asking in their heads when reviewing your EB-1A application.

To meet the EB-1A extraordinary ability standard, you’ll need something that’s unquestionable or at least something that most reasonable people would see as strong evidence that you are at the top of your field.

You don’t have to pick a niche to start profile-building.

In fact, picking a niche too early, especially if you’re a junior professional, may not be the best approach to take (unless you’ve already developed a significant amount of expertise in an area and want to continue to build your expertise in that area).

Yes.

If you’re a senior professional with 10-20 years of experience, you may only meet two criteria at most but be able to show extraordinary ability through your work and expertise in your field.

In that case, you may be able to build a strong EB-1A case in 1-2 years if you work on meeting at least one more criterion (I usually recommend targeting and building towards meeting at least two or three additional criteria).