Can you self-petition for a green card?

EB-1A (Extraordinary Ability) and EB-2 NIW (National Interest Waiver) let you petition for a green card without an employer. Both pathways are materially easier for PhDs / senior researchers / publication- heavy engineers than the average tech worker assumes — and both eliminate H-1B transfer panic permanently. This scorer walks the 10 EB-1A criteria + 3 NIW Dhanasar prongs against your profile and tells you, honestly, where you stand.

USCIS requires evidence in at least 3 of 10 criteria, then evaluates the totality at the final merits stage. Score yourself honestly — overstating won’t help, and the criteria with the highest weight (research output, leading role) move the needle most.

Nationally/internationally recognized awardsweight 3/3

Receipt of lesser nationally or internationally recognized prizes or awards for excellence in your field. Excludes purely academic achievement (degree, scholarship), employer-internal awards.

Examples (3)

· Best Paper award at a top conference (NeurIPS, CVPR, ICML, ACL, etc.)
· Industry-wide award (ACM, IEEE Fellow, R&D 100, etc.)
· National-level recognition (national-press feature; government-issued recognition)

Selective-membership associationsweight 2/3

Membership in associations that require outstanding achievements as judged by recognized national/international experts.

Examples (4)

· ACM Distinguished Member or Fellow
· IEEE Senior Member or Fellow
· AAAI / AAAS Fellow
· National academy membership (NAE, NAS, NAM)

Published material about you in major mediaweight 2/3

Articles, profiles, or interviews about YOU and your work, in major print/online media OR major professional publications.

Examples (3)

· Profile or feature in NYT, WSJ, WaPo, The Atlantic, Wired
· Major industry publications (TechCrunch, IEEE Spectrum, Nature News)
· BBC / Reuters / AP / equivalent international press

Judging the work of othersweight 2/3

Participation as a judge of the work of others in your field. Peer-review for top journals/conferences counts; informal advice does not.

Examples (4)

· Peer reviewer for top-tier journals (Nature, Science, JAMA, PNAS)
· Conference program-committee member or area chair (top-tier venues)
· Grant-application reviewer (NIH, NSF, NIST, DOE)
· Award-committee judge or jury member

Original contributions of major significanceweight 3/3

Authorship of original scientific, scholarly, artistic, athletic, or business-related contributions of major significance to the field. Most users meet the 'original' part; the 'major significance' is the harder bar.

Examples (4)

· First-author papers cited 100+ times (Google Scholar) per paper
· Patents that have been licensed or commercialized at scale
· Open-source projects with 1,000+ GitHub stars and active community use
· Algorithms / methods that have become industry standard

Scholarly articles in professional journalsweight 2/3

Authorship of scholarly articles in professional or major-trade publications. The 'professional/major-trade' distinction matters; blog posts and arXiv-only preprints typically don't count alone.

Examples (3)

· First-author papers in peer-reviewed journals (Nature, IEEE Transactions, ACM, etc.)
· Conference proceedings at top venues (NeurIPS, ICML, ACL, CHI, etc.)
· Major-trade publications (HBR, MIT Sloan Mgmt Review)

Display of work at artistic exhibitions/showcasesweight 1/3

Primarily relevant for arts/design/architecture. Tech-field workers usually don't claim this one.

Examples (3)

· Solo or group museum exhibition
· Major film festival selection
· Architecture or design biennial inclusion

Leading or critical role at distinguished organizationsweight 3/3

Performance in a leading or critical role for organizations or establishments with a distinguished reputation. Title matters less than evidence of the criticality.

Examples (3)

· Senior staff scientist / principal at a leading lab (FAANG research, Allen Institute, HHMI Janelia)
· Founder/CTO of well-known startup
· Department chair / lab director at a top R1 university

High salary or remuneration relative to fieldweight 2/3

Demonstrated high salary or significantly high remuneration in relation to others in the field. DOL OFLC wage data + BLS occupation data establish the field benchmark.

Examples (2)

· Total comp >2x BLS 90th percentile for your occupation+location
· Independent W-2 attestation showing top 10% of comparable roles

Commercial success in performing artsweight 1/3

Primarily for performing arts. Tech/science applicants usually don't claim this. Box-office, charts, sales records.

Examples (3)

· Top-charting song / album
· Major-studio film with verified box-office
· Best-selling book (NYT bestseller list)

Your EB-1A self-assessment

0 of 10

0 with strong evidence · final-merits score 0/100

You currently meet 0 of 10 EB-1A criteria with at least some evidence (3 required). EB-2 NIW typically has a lower bar — check the NIW tab.

Where you could strengthen

Nationally/internationally recognized awards — weight 3/3
Original contributions of major significance — weight 3/3
Leading or critical role at distinguished organizations — weight 3/3

Each of these criteria has high weight in the final-merits stage. Even partial evidence is better than zero.

EB-1A is real money + time

Filing fees + attorney fees typically run $5K-$15K. The Priority Plan ($129) covers your H-1B grace-period plan in detail; for EB-1A self-petition specifically, schedule a paid consult with an immigration attorney specializing in extraordinary-ability petitions.

This is an information-only tool, not legal advice. You are responsible for your decisions. When in doubt, consult an immigration attorney.