To United States Employers Who Wish to Employ A

First Preference "Alien of Extraordinary Ability"

Some employers or individual self-petitioning foreign nationals can bypass the labor certification process and file an I-140 directly with Citizenship and Immigration Services under a category set aside for aliens of extraordinary ability in the sciences, arts, education, business, or athletics (first preference, EB-1a).

How to File: A petition for an alien of extraordinary ability (I-140) may either be sponsored by an employer petitioner or may be self-petitioned/sponsored by the foreign national. In either event, the petition must be accompanied by evidence that the foreign national is one of a small percentage who has risen to the very top of his/her field of endeavor.

This is truly an elite category set aside for those at the very top of their professions and requires extremely strong supporting evidence that the foreign national has sustained national or international acclaim and that his/her achievements have been recognized in the field of expertise. Such evidence shall include evidence of a major one-time achievement (a major international award such as the Nobel Prize) or at least three (preferably more) of the following:

• Documentation of the alien's receipt of lesser nationally or internationally recognized prizes or awards for excellence the field of endeavor

Please submit a list of major (national and/or international) prizes and awards you have won. Please also state the criteria for winning each award, including the number of applicants, how often the award is given, how finalists are selected, how many awards are given, and how winners are selected and by whom. Also submit a list of significant prior winners of these awards, including their name, title, institution, rank/position, and the year they won the award in question.

Do not list student awards, young scientist/investigator awards, fellowships, grants, or travel awards. Only awards which compare you to others at the top of your field (rather than those who are new to the field, for example) are useful.

You should also submit evidence to back your statements (copies of award and criteria information).

• Documentation of the alien's membership in associations in the field which require outstanding achievement of their members as judged by national or international experts

Please submit a list of professional memberships. Please also state the criteria for membership, including how many members the organization has at your level, how members are nominated, and who makes the decision regarding membership.

Do not list paid professional memberships. Only memberships which truly require outstanding achievement of their members are useful.

You should also submit evidence to back your statements (copies of membership certificates and criteria information).

• Published material about the alien in professional or major trade publications or other media relating to the alien’s work in the field for which classification is sought. Such material must include the title, date, and author of the material, and any necessary translation Citations are not enough to meet this category. Please submit copies of articles which primarily and substantively discuss your work directly and highlight the portions which discuss you and your research. Be sure the articles contain the title, date, and author of the material as required by regulation.

• Evidence of the alien's participation, either individually or on a panel, as the judge of the work of others in the same or an allied field

Review work for a few journals, being one of many reviewers in a journal’s database, and assisting on Ph.D. dissertation committees, etc. is considered normal. Therefore, we must show something more substantial here. Please list journals (or other publications) which have you on their editorial board or which regularly ask you to review based specifically upon your renowned expertise in your field. Please also list the criteria for being selected as a reviewer.

You should also submit evidence to back your statements (requests to review and letters from editors specifying the review work you have done and how you were selected, etc.).

• Evidence of the alien’s original scientific, scholarly, athletic, or business-related contributions of major significance in the field

Please submit a citation index from Google Scholar or SciFinder (or comparable service). Be sure the printout includes the title, authors, and publication information for both the cited and citing articles.

Please submit a list of patents. For patents, also submit evidence which shows that the patent has moved beyond paper and has provided a business, scientific, or societal contribution.

If you wish to submit evidence that you have been invited as a conference speaker, prove that your participation was as a keynote speaker or featured presenter set above other presenters and attendees.

Remember that we must make a strong showing that your work is major, significant, and original.

• Evidence of the alien's authorship of scholarly books or articles in the field in professional or major trade publications or other major media

Please list articles and books (or book chapters) you have published and separately note articles on which you were the first author and/or primary contributor. For each article, note the name, date, and impact factor of the journal; the area and scope of publication; and the journal’s criteria for selecting publications.

You should also submit evidence to back your statements (copies of abstracts or articles, criteria for publication from each journal).

***Any items which are not in English must be accompanied by certified English translations.***

Even the submission of three or more of the above items may not establish eligibility for this classification. The evidence must clearly demonstrate (to the reviewing officer’s satisfaction) that the foreign national is extraordinary, as defined above. The nature of this category is very subjective.

Support Letters

One important aspect of the petition beyond the evidence detailed above is the submission of support letters from experts in the alien’s field:  There is no “magic number” of letters and quality is paramount. We usually aim for ~8 support letters. Some of these should be from people you have worked with and who most intimately know the details of your work. Some should be from experts who know only of your work by reputation and do not know you personally. Many should be from outside of the sponsoring employer institution/company and some should be from outside the U.S. It is helpful if letters can come from a range of sources (universities, government, private industry, as appropriate). All those providing letters should provide a CV and should themselves be top experts in your field.  We will provide you with a support outline which you will give to those who will write the letters (alternatively, we can request the letters for you). It is very important that the expert write the letter him/herself. It is unethical and unwise to write the letters for these individuals as all letters will then take the same tone and largely address the same topics. The integrity of the process demands that the expert provide his/her letter, but we would like to review the letter before it is finalized and sent to us. Please encourage your supporters to e-mail us drafts of the letters so that we can make any necessary amendments.

Common mistakes we see on support letters:

 Expert does not wish to write the letter and asks the sponsored alien or the attorney to write it.  Letter contains qualifiers (e.g., “The beneficiary is excellent for a young researcher. He has great potential for future greatness.”).  Expert inadvertently references a similar, but distinctly different immigrant classification (e.g., “The beneficiary’s work is in the national interest.”  Letter does not address the specific criteria for the extraordinary ability category, but rather makes sweeping or general statements or addresses criteria for other categories which we are not utilizing.

USCIS has stated that the letters alone cannot form the basis of a successful claim to be an alien of extraordinary ability. However, they are important in directing the officer’s attention to the ways in which the other evidence you have submitted leads experts in your field to conclude that you are one of a small percentage who has risen to the top of your field of endeavor.

Attorney’s Cover Letter

We will also prepare a cover letter on your behalf which is intended as a summary of your case. While we will put a good degree of time and effort to this and our letter is very useful for the officer in summarizing what is being submitted and pulling attention to the strongest parts of your filing, it is not considered a substantive piece of evidence in your case and will form the basis for neither approval nor denial of your petition.

Premium Processing Service

You may or may not wish to utilize the government’s “premium processing” service for your outstanding researcher petition. If you do not wish to wait the normal I-140 processing time, you or the petitioner can pay a $1,000 premium processing fee to the government and initial processing (approval, denial, or the issuance of a Request for Evidence) is guaranteed within 15 calendar days.

Requests for Evidence

Because this category is both very selective and largely subjective, it is very common for USCIS to issue Requests for Evidence (RFE) requesting additional documentation that you meet the rigorous standards of this classification. Because you must qualify for the benefit sought at the time of filing, we cannot use any evidence that you may have acquired after we filed, even where the RFE is issued much later (e.g., If your case is filed in January and you receive an RFE in November, you cannot use a paper you had published in June as a part of your response.).

Concurrent I-485 Filing

If a visa number is available to you at the time of filing the I-140 (outstanding researcher petition), in other words, if there is no visa retrogression in your category based upon quota backlogs, you may file I-485s (applications for adjustment of status) for you and dependent family members with the I-140, or you may file later (while the I-140 is pending, or after it has been approved). Because this classification has a higher rate of denial, USCIS recommends waiting for I-140 approval prior to filing I-485s. This is particularly a good idea if you have a risky case or if you are utilizing premium processing service (since your application will get an answer quickly). If your I-140 is denied and you have filed I-485s, the I-485s will be denied and any employment authorization documents (EADs) and advance parole travel documents will be rescinded. You will not be refunded any filing or legal fees.

______Law Offices of Irani & Wise 900 Victors Way, Ste. 170 Ann Arbor, Michigan 48108 Telephone (734) 995-4900 Fax: (734) 995-4987