EB1 Successful Cases – Secrets to EB1 Green Card Success – Are You Ready?
By Chris M. Ingram, LL.M., ESQ – Immigration Lawyer for many EB1 Successful Cases
As a U.S. Immigration Law firm Specializing in EB1 Green Cards for Aliens of Extraordinary Ability. I often get asked – ‘How do I know if I’m extraordinary enough to be a successful candidate for an EB1 Green Card?’ Wow, that’s such a great question and a very tough one to answer, because the answer is in the eye of the beholder. Let me explain. I’ll try this in a few different ways.
The Secrets to EB1 Success
How can you tell if someone is successful or not? Can you tell by the clothes they wear, the car that they drive or was it that Rolex on their wrist that gave it away? If you were sitting along-side ten applicants for a job, how would you be able to tell if you had a good chance of nailing that job, without seeing any of the other candidates resumes. What clues could you look for to determine if you had the edge. How much would you rely on each person’s appearance? Is the best dressed the one or is that shy person in the corner, not making eye contact the genius in the room?
Truth is, applying for an EB1 Green Card is like going for a job interview. Let’s say you have ten PHDs going for a job as a doctor. How do you, as the interviewer, not having a PHD, going to figure out who should get the job? Welcome to the world of U.S. Immigration adjudication.
No matter how successful you are in your field, when you apply for an EB1 green card, your case will be evaluated by someone with no expertise in your field whatsoever. Yet, they are tasked with deciding whether you are extraordinary enough in your field to be granted an EB1 Green Card. How can they possibly make the best judgment call on your future? Now you’re getting it.
So, in order to improve your chances of securing your green card you have to go out of your way ‘to look the part’, in a way that a U.S. Immigration Officer with zero experience or expertise in your field would nonetheless recognize and then approve you for one of the limited numbers of EB1 Green Cards that are made available each year. Your qualifications alone are simply not going to get the job done.
Am I an Alien of Extraordinary Ability?
Every single day, I get people asking me “Do I qualify for an EB1 Green Card, I’m a……….?” U.S. Immigration gives us ten EB1 Categories to use as a guide, such as, have you Won a Major Award or can you satisfy three from this list of ten categories: –
EB1 Green Card eligibility is determined by you being able to satisfy three professional categories from a list of ten.
(i) National Award – [More Info]
(ii) Invited Membership – [More Info]
(iii) Published Material About You – [More Info]
(iv) Judging – [More Info]
(v) Innovation – [More Info]
(vi) Scholarly Articles – [More Info]
(vii) Exhibitions or Showcases –[More Info]
(viii) Leading /Critical Role – [More Info]
(ix) High Salary – [More Info]
(x) Commercial Success – [More Info]
So, here is my point, even if you can satisfy three or more categories, does this mean that you have a winning EB1 case? Well, maybe, but it’s not definitive. Being able to satisfy three or more categories gets you in the game, but it does not necessarily get you the win. Again, it’s just like having an MD gets you in the door if your applying for a job as a doctor, but it does not necessarily get you the job. Someone, with no expertise in your field, still has to pick you for approval and perhaps deny the others. So, you have to find ways to stand out even further, no matter what field you work in.
How Can I Really Stand Out and Be an EB1 Success Case?
Think about it, if the officer is not an expert in your field what are things that you can present that just might give you an edge. So, I’m going beyond just satisfying just any three or more of the above categories in this discussion.
Testimonial Letters – So, how about getting some really excellent and exciting testimonial/reference letters written about your accomplishments? What I’m talking about here is being able to get letters from eminent people in your field who know of you and who respect your work and can write a well-crafted letter to explain how and why they think you have risen to the very top of your field. ‘Very top of your field’ is an essential term that must be discussed in the letter. If you can think of 3-6 really eminent people to write such a letter (we’d need to help craft it of course), then this type of evidence can be quite persuasive; it could just tip the balance in your favor. See, we’re looking for that additional edge that could make you stand out from the crowd.
I’ve had some really awesome testimonial letters from leading Hollywood Actors such as Jared Leto, Athletes like Rodger Federer from Tennis, musicians like Mark Knopfler from the band Dire Straits and I even got a testimonial letter from Steve Wozniak Co-Founder of Apple. I’m not saying you have to get letters from eminent people like these icons, but if you can get some top people, we can later Google who we can show are leaders in their field also, saying great things about your accomplishments, it can be very helpful to your case.
Published Material About Your Accomplishments – Although this is one of the ten categories, if it’s not one you have in your mix, why not see what you can do to get some journal to interview you about your accomplishments, your views about the field you work in. Pull out the megaphone and develop your voice. Be proactive to find ways for the press/ trade press to find you and write about you. Here, I’m not talking about Scholarly Articles where you write a cleaver piece about someone you’ve done, I’m talking about you being interviewed about the work that you have done and how this has shaped your view of the market place. Today, we call these people Thought Leaders.
Getting outside the cubical and having people read about your accomplishment makes you look far better than the next guy who could not be bothered to make the effort and who rested solely on their qualifications to get the job done.
Remember, how are you going to convince a U.S. Immigration Officer with no expertise in your field to believe you are the one, the expert in your field, unless someone other than you is singing your praises.
Speaking Engagements / Conferences / Alma mater
Have you thought about getting up out of your comfort zone and securing some speaking engagements where you can be photographed giving motivational speeches to fellow professionals in your field? It could be at a conference, or even your old University, or some other event. If people are coming to listen to you speak, it must be, because you have something valuable to say and contribute. You must be a leader in your field, right? You need to demonstrate this to the U.S. Immigration officer, he will not assume anything about you.
Are You an Innovator?
I speak to many people who have done some really cool stuff for major companies. Note, even if their name does not make it to print in association with that innovation, if they can still prove that they were behind the scenes leading the innovative charge, we can use that evidence to great effect.
For example, most fashion houses like Gucci have individual designers coming up with the designs for each product. The Gucci handbag is not going to have your name on the bag, but you might be able to show the original sketches that you did along with other corroboration documentation from within Gucci, that you did in fact design that handbag.
Similarly, we have a lot of STEM professionals who can lay claim to all kinds of innovations of products that we use every day, but had no knowledge of the innovators that they were personally involved in at a senior level. Indeed, some of clients even have the patents with their name on it, along with others, to prove that they were the innovators for that product. Game Changer.
Again, being recognized as a leading innovator, can really give your case an edge.
The Key to Winning
You can win if you look like a winner. U.S. Immigration has this element in an EB1 application package called ‘Evidence of Sustained Acclaimed’. What this means is that, sure you have the qualifications, sure you can meet three or more categories, but who is really talking about how good you really are. how are you showing that what you do, anyone else with your qualifications could just as ‘easily’ do. What is so special about you that we have to give you an EB1 Green Card and deny others? So, if you really want to give yourself the best shot of having a great EB1 case, stop relying on your qualifications alone, and start polishing your overall profile. You’ve simply got to do it. I’ve won so many cases of lesser qualified, lesser accomplished applicants who simply went all out to polish their profile and made themselves look ten feet tall. Whilst, I’ve had difficulty winning cases of more qualified applicants because they simply were over reliant on whatever they had already. What they had was solid, but it did not have that final flare or flourish that would nudge that undecided officer over to yes.
We want to win more and more cases first time, every time, but we can only do so much. We have to spot diamonds in the rough every day, and then work with the clients to polish them up real-good for visa approval, but what I’m telling you now is that you should be working on all of this stuff from before, you hire us, once you’ve hired us and even after we’ve submitted your case. You should be always working on your brand.
Conclusion
Ok, I hope I’ve given you plenty to think about and work on. We can really help you get there. We’ve built our reputation on winning cases and we’d just love to win yours. We are getting lots of referrals from clients for whom we’ve won their cases, but I just want to say, winning EB1 cases is very hard and requires a lot of work on both sides. So, I’m just giving you a friendly heads up J
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About Chris M. Ingram., LL.M., ESQ.
USA Immigration Attorney Chris M. Ingram is originally from Northampton, England. Chris M. Ingram Graduated with a BA(Hons) Degree in Law from De Montfort University, Leicester, the UK in 1994, Chris M. Ingram then went on to the De Montfort School of Law in 1996 and graduated with a Post Graduate Diploma in Legal Practice (PGDLP). In 1998 Chris M. Ingram graduated with a Masters of Laws and Letters (LL.M) from Huddersfield University, UK. and after relocating to the U.S. Chris was admitted to the New York State Bar in 2003. Chris has been a member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association since 2004.
Having gone through the US Immigration process personally with his wife and three children, attorney Chris M. Ingram founded his own law firm with the clear mission to make sure every client had the very best US Immigration experience possible. To begin with, Chris M. Ingram set about writing and creating the very best comprehensive US Immigration education platform so that every visitor had the opportunity to discover in their own time and at their own pace their US Visa, Work Permit and Green Card options for free. Today, the Law Offices of Chris M. Ingram’s website has over one thousand pages of content and hundreds of educational videos and testimonials to inform and inspire every visitor. We are adding new content all the time.
Attorney Chris M. Ingram also believes that everyone should be able to have a free consultation so that potential clients can speak personally and confidentially with an immigration specialist and discuss their US Visa, Work Permit and Green Card needs and learn about how we can help them achieve the American Dream.
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Please note that all videos created by the Law Offices of Chris M. Ingram are intended as general information only and not specific legal advice pertaining to your case. If you would like specific legal advice from an attorney on any immigration matter please do not hesitate to contact this law office accordingly. All pictorial images used in these videos and the website, in general, are licensed stocked images and not portraits, or otherwise, of anyone from the Law Offices of Chris M. Ingram, nor of its clients unless otherwise indicated by name. All images are used solely for illustrative purposes only. Copyright 2010-2019 All Rights Reserved.
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