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Hi Peter,

In this AMA you mentioned a few times that while the EB1A bar is high, it is perhaps not as high as it seems. Any advice for early career academics?, eg

As a reasonably successful postdoc at, say, Stanford (good scholarship, steady publication record, presentations at international conferences, and so on, but no proper 'recognized awards of excellence'), is it even worth considering EB1A, as opposed to a EB2 NIW which in contrast seems likely but would take a long, long time?

The wording 'sustained ... acclaim' makes it sound like you'd have to be a semi-famous professor, so I kind of ruled it out before. Have you seen young scientists pass EB1A? Thanks



Yes, it is worth considering an EB1A.


Thanks for your reply, that's encouraging. Follow up question:

I can see how the points

- Evidence of your original scientific, scholarly, artistic, athletic, or business-related contributions of major significance to the field

- Evidence of your authorship of scholarly articles in professional or major trade publications or other major media

are fairly easy to fulfill. Which one would you attack as the third?


Association memberships and journal review work.


Thanks for your time!


Come on man, give us some meat to chew on...


Very funny. You'd probably have a high chance of success. And the NIW isn't all that it's cracked up to be. USCIS appears to be applying EB1A standards of accomplishment to EB1A applications.




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