The EB-1A visa is a coveted pathway for extraordinary professionals to gain access to permanent American residency. And, unlike the O-1A visa, EB-1A recipients don’t have to be sponsored by their employers — if they can manage to prove that they are extraordinary individuals and that they have something to offer America, they can make it on their own merit alone.

However, securing the EB-1A visa isn’t exactly an easy process. Thousands apply every year, making it a competitive process that’s far from guaranteed. That said, it’s very doable, with just over half of all applicants getting approved.

Thanks to these odds, it’s easy to look at the EB-1A application as a coin flip. But there are several things you can do to actually improve your odds.

Let’s take a look.

EB-1A: Requirements and Evidentiary Documents

Because you’re coming on your own merit, you need to have plentiful, clear evidence of your extraordinariness. Specifically, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) requires evidence of at least three of the following:

• Receipt of nationally/internationally recognized awards (think the Nobel Prize)

• Membership in associations that require outstanding achievement

• Published material about you in professional publications

• Your participation as a judge in the work of others

• Original contributions that are of major significance in your field

• Authorship of scholarly articles in professional media

• Your work being displayed at artistic exhibitions or showcases

• Your position in a leading or critical role in distinguished organizations

• Your high salary compared to others in your field

• Your commercial successes in the performing arts

All of these pieces of evidence go toward building a profile of you — a profile that tells the USCIS that you have extraordinary ability in your field. And while you could certainly stand out with a Nobel Prize, practically guaranteeing you a spot, this is an unattainable goal for most.

As such, your ability to build a portfolio of evidence that highlights your abilities and influence is absolutely crucial if you want to stand any chance of getting approved. Each piece of evidence must work together to harmoniously paint a picture of excellence and expertise.

Improving EB-1A Eligibility

While it might seem like your only course of action is to compile a list of your accomplishments and tie it in a neat little bow, you actually have a lot of control over your EB-1A application, and there are several things you can do to improve your odds.

With that in mind, we recommend doing the following:

Applying for Exclusive Memberships

Extraordinary people have a bad habit of isolating themselves and foregoing unnecessary social interactions. Those who get over this habit often reap significant rewards, but many don’t see it as being worth the effort. As a result, you likely qualify for some exclusive memberships thanks to your accomplishments.

If you cringe at the idea of these memberships, don’t go the Groucho Marx route, who said something along these lines: “I don’t care to belong to a club that accepts people like me as members.”

This is not the time for you to play hard to get! It’s these memberships that USCIS is looking for because they demonstrate that others have recognized your brilliance and accepted you into an exclusive group.

So if you haven’t already done your due diligence, scour the internet for exclusive memberships that you just might qualify for.

Gathering Evidence of Critical Performance/Leadership

This one is a criterion that sounds obtuse and ethereal, one that you might struggle to figure out how to demonstrate on paper. But in reality, it’s as simple as asking for reference letters.

Granted, USCIS often looks at evidence like this with a grain of salt, dubious about its legitimacy. But if you have a plethora of references that clearly establish your extraordinary performance or critical leadership, backed up by undeniable documentation that shows the results you achieved, these can be very strong additions to your application.

To this end, now is the time to cash in all your chips. Now is when you need to call in all your favors, reach out to old associates and employers, and get detailed references from anyone remotely familiar with your success. When you package this all together and bundle it with objective evidence of your outstanding work, USCIS pays much more attention to your application.

Getting Your Name Out There via Published Material

Unfortunately, a lot of the evidence you submit will be largely self-created and curated. That’s just the nature of the visa and the kind of evidence that the USCIS requests. As such, it’s easy for them to overlook any given aspect of your application and not give it the attention it deserves.

All this changes when you show them a published article that praises you and your work. If a third party notices you and writes an article that features your accomplishments, the USCIS has little choice but to take it seriously.

While you could go around pitching yourself to various publications, this is where partnering with a content marketing agency like Presscart can be highly beneficial. Agencies like ours specialize in creating high-impact content that highlights your expertise and contributions, getting your name in nationally recognized publications and telling your extraordinary story.

How Presscart Helps EB-1A Applicants

At Presscart, we work with all sorts of visa candidates who are hoping to strengthen their applications and secure permanent residency in the U.S.

In one case, we worked with a brilliant cloud engineer who had made significant strides in democratizing cloud technology, empowering the tech leaders of tomorrow and building a platform where they could quickly deploy and scale their cloud apps.

While the tech sounds amazing (and it is), this visa hopeful was sorely missing the publicity he needed to establish his name as an industry expert. After our team had an introductory call with him, we put together five articles that would appear in major publications, all of them featuring his name as an extraordinary professional. Upon his approval, these articles were published and became a very significant part of his visa application. They’ve also landed him several new clients!

This is just one example. We’ve helped hundreds of visa candidates strengthen their applications with high-quality content — and you could be next.

Partnering with Presscart for Application-Ready Visa Publicity

Improving your EB-1A eligibility isn’t an easy task, but it’s made easier with Presscart. While you work on becoming a member of notable groups and gathering references from your peers, let us promote your name in internationally recognized publications and establish you as an extraordinary leader in your field.

With clients featured in Forbes, Life & Style, and other high-profile publications, Presscart is your premier source for visa publicity and the partner that can help you secure an EB-1A approval. Contact our team today to get started on your package.