EB-1A From Abroad
EB-1A From Abroad — Self-Petition Without a U.S. Employer
We hear regularly from scientists abroad who assume their case cannot even begin. They believe that until an American employer sponsors them, or until they are somehow already in the United States, there is nothing to file. For the EB-1A category, that assumption is wrong. This can be done: the petition is filed from abroad, by the scientist himself, and the law that allows it is set out below.
EB-1A is the one employment-based green card category a person can file for himself. The statute, INA §203(b)(1)(A), and the regulation, 8 CFR 204.5(h), let a scientist of extraordinary ability petition on his own behalf. No American employer is required, no job offer, no labor certification — and no requirement that he be in the United States, or ever have been. Under 8 CFR 204.5(h)(5), the petitioner's own detailed statement of how he will continue his work here can stand in place of a job offer.
This practice is for scientists at the top of their field who live and work abroad: the publications and the citations they draw, judging the work of others, original contributions the field builds on, leading roles in distinguished institutions. USCIS judges the whole record, and the petition shows that the scientist is coming to the United States to work in his field. None of it requires connections in the United States — letters from scientists who know the work, wherever they live, explain its significance, and a case is built on the record itself.
The second category is the EB-2 national interest waiver, INA §203(b)(2)(B)(i) and 8 CFR 204.5(k). It too can be self-petitioned from abroad, with no employer and no labor certification. Its standard is different from EB-1A's, and in practice the two cases are built much the same way: the scientist shows that his proposed work has substantial merit and national importance, that he is well positioned to advance it, and that waiving the job-offer requirement benefits the United States — the framework of Matter of Dhanasar, 26 I&N Dec. 884 (AAO 2016). For scientists from most countries other than China and India — Europe, the Middle East, Israel — the national interest waiver is often the practical route, particularly for a scientist in no hurry to enter the United States.
The petition is filed with USCIS from abroad. Our burden, as the scientist's attorneys, is that petition — building the record until it carries the case. On approval, the case goes to the American consulate for the immigrant visa.
Stated plainly: an approval is not the visa itself, and for scientists from countries with long green-card lines, an approval holds a place in that line. This firm takes a case on only after a hard look at the record — before any fee is agreed.
If this is of interest to you, or to a friend abroad, send us the scientist's CV and we will take a look, with follow-up questions to follow.