What STEM Professionals Should Know About EB1A Self-Petition in 2026

I’ve been on an H1B for years. If you’re reading this, chances are you have too — or you’re at least familiar with the anxiety of employer-dependent immigration status. Layoffs, RFEs, visa lottery stress. It’s a lot.

A few months ago, I started seriously looking into the EB1A green card category. Not because I thought I was some kind of genius, but because a colleague who had fewer publications than me got approved. That made me realize: most of us in tech drastically underestimate our own qualifications.

Here’s what I’ve learned.

EB1A Isn’t Just for Nobel Laureates

This is the biggest misconception. The EB1A category is officially called “Extraordinary Ability,” which sounds like you need a Fields Medal or a Nature cover story. You don’t.

USCIS requires you to meet 3 out of 10 specific criteria. That’s it. You don’t need to be the top person in your field — you need to demonstrate that you’re among those who have risen to the top of their field. There’s a meaningful difference.

For STEM professionals, especially software engineers, data scientists, ML researchers, and similar roles, several of these criteria map directly to things you might already be doing.

The 10 Criteria, Translated for Tech Workers

Let me walk through each one with concrete examples from the tech world:

1. Awards or Prizes for Excellence

• Won a hackathon at a major conference (not just your company’s internal one)
• Best Paper award at a peer-reviewed conference
• Kaggle competition top finishes
• Industry awards like Google Developer Expert, AWS Hero, or Microsoft MVP

Reality check: Company performance bonuses don’t count. The award needs to come from outside your organization and recognize excellence in the field.

2. Membership in Associations Requiring Outstanding Achievement

• IEEE Senior Member (not regular membership)
• ACM Distinguished Member
• Election to professional societies that require peer nomination
• Membership in selective research groups or working committees

Reality check: Paying $100 for an IEEE membership doesn’t qualify. The association must require outstanding achievements as a condition of membership.

3. Published Material About You in Major Media

• Profiles or interviews in outlets like TechCrunch, Wired, The Verge
• Quoted as an expert in industry publications
• Podcast appearances on well-known shows in your field

Reality check: Your company’s press release that mentions your team doesn’t count. The material needs to be about you specifically.

4. Judging the Work of Others

• Peer reviewer for academic journals or conferences (NeurIPS, ICML, ACL, etc.)
• Technical reviewer for book publishers (O’Reilly, Manning, etc.)
• Grant proposal reviewer for NSF, NIH, or similar bodies
• Technical committee member for conferences

This one is often overlooked by engineers. If you’ve reviewed papers, you have evidence for this criterion. Save those reviewer invitations.

5. Original Contributions of Major Significance

• Open source projects with significant adoption (think: used by thousands of developers)
• Patents that are actually implemented in products
• Novel algorithms or architectures adopted by others in the field
• Technical standards contributions (W3C, IETF, etc.)

This is the strongest criterion for most tech workers. If you built something that other people use, you have a case. GitHub stars, npm downloads, citations — these all serve as evidence.

6. Authorship of Scholarly Articles

• Academic publications in peer-reviewed journals or conferences
• Technical whitepapers adopted by industry
• Authored chapters in technical books

Reality check: Blog posts don’t count, even popular ones. The work needs to be in scholarly or professional publications.

7. Artistic Exhibitions or Showcases

Less relevant for most STEM workers, but if you do creative coding, generative art, or data visualization that’s been exhibited — this could apply.

8. Leading or Critical Role at Distinguished Organizations

• Tech lead or principal engineer at a well-known company
• Founded a startup that achieved meaningful traction
• Led a significant product or platform used by millions
• Head of a research lab or technical division

Key nuance: “Distinguished organization” doesn’t necessarily mean FAANG. It means an organization with a distinguished reputation in the field. A well-known open source foundation, a respected research institution, or a market-leading company in your niche can all qualify.

9. High Salary Relative to Others in the Field

• Your compensation is significantly above the median for your role and geography
• Stock grants and bonuses count toward total compensation
• Use Bureau of Labor Statistics or Glassdoor data as benchmarks

For senior engineers in the Bay Area: This one is often easier to meet than you think, given how compressed tech salaries are compared to other fields.

10. Commercial Success in Performing Arts

Generally not applicable for STEM workers. Skip this one.

The Self-Petition Advantage

Here’s what makes EB1A particularly attractive for tech workers: you don’t need employer sponsorship.

Unlike the EB2/EB3 categories where your company files the petition (and controls the process), EB1A lets you file for yourself. This means:

• You own the process. Change jobs without restarting your green card.
• No PERM labor certification. Skip the lengthy recruitment process.
• No priority date backlog (for most countries). EB1A is typically current, meaning no years-long wait after approval.
• No employer dependency. Your green card petition survives layoffs.

For anyone who’s been through the PERM process — waiting 8-14 months just for the labor certification, then more months for I-140 processing — the EB1A path can be significantly faster.

Common Misconceptions STEM Workers Have

After talking to dozens of colleagues about this, here are the patterns I see:

“I’m just a software engineer, not extraordinary”

You might be reviewing papers for top conferences, maintaining open source tools used by thousands, and earning in the top 5% of your profession. That’s not “just” anything.

“I need to meet all 10 criteria”

You need 3. Many successful petitions meet exactly 3 or 4.

“My contributions aren’t significant enough”

USCIS doesn’t require your work to be groundbreaking. They require it to be of “major significance to the field.” An open source library used in production by hundreds of companies qualifies. A patent that’s been cited by others qualifies. Significance is measured by impact, not by how fancy it sounds.

“I should wait until I have more achievements”

Maybe. But I’ve seen people wait years while already qualifying. The criteria don’t require decades of experience. Some people qualify within 5-7 years of their career.

“Lawyers are too expensive, so I’ll just skip it”

You can actually self-petition without a lawyer. It’s more work, but USCIS doesn’t require legal representation. The key is understanding what evidence maps to which criteria.

How to Self-Assess Before Spending Money

Before hiring a lawyer (most charge $5,000-$15,000 for an EB1A petition), do your own assessment:

Step 1: Inventory your achievements
List everything: publications, patents, reviewer roles, open source projects, awards, talks, salary data, leadership roles. Don’t filter at this stage.

Step 2: Map to criteria
For each achievement, identify which of the 10 criteria it could support. Some achievements map to multiple criteria (e.g., a widely-adopted open source project could support both “original contributions” and “leading role”).

Step 3: Count your criteria
Can you make a reasonable case for at least 3? You need both the achievement AND supporting evidence (letters, metrics, documentation).

Step 4: Evaluate your evidence strength
Each criterion needs objective, verifiable evidence. “I led an important project” needs to be backed by organizational charts, revenue impact, user metrics, or recommendation letters from recognized experts.

Step 5: Use assessment tools
There are tools available that can help structure this evaluation. I found a free EB1A assessment tool that walks you through each criterion with specific questions tailored to STEM professionals. It’s useful for getting an initial read on where you stand before spending money on consultations.

Practical Next Steps

If your self-assessment suggests you might qualify:

1. Start collecting evidence now. Request peer review invitations in writing. Screenshot GitHub metrics. Save award notifications. Evidence is easier to collect in real-time than retroactively.

2. Get recommendation letters early. You’ll need letters from experts in your field. These take time. Start asking mentors, collaborators, and industry contacts.

3. Read successful petition examples. Understanding what USCIS looks for helps you frame your own case. There’s a good EB1A self-petition guide that breaks down the filing process and evidence requirements.

4. Consider a consultation (not a full engagement) first. Many immigration lawyers offer one-hour consultations for $200-$500. Come prepared with your self-assessment and get their honest opinion on your chances before committing to the full process.

5. Don’t wait for perfection. If you meet 3 criteria with solid evidence, that’s enough to file. You don’t need 7 or 8.

Final Thoughts

The EB1A path exists specifically for people who’ve made meaningful contributions to their field. STEM professionals — especially those in tech — often undervalue their own work because they’re surrounded by talented peers.

But peer review? Open source contributions? High compensation? Technical leadership? These are exactly the kinds of evidence USCIS is looking for.

The worst that happens if you file and get denied is that you’re out the filing fee ($700) and your time. The best case is you get a green card without employer dependency, without a priority date backlog, and on your own terms.

Take an honest look at your profile. You might be closer than you think.