Tailored EB-1A guide for Leading Software Engineers.
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You received a nationally recognized prize for technical excellence. Example include major industry awards like an Apple Design Award, a Google Play Award, or winning a top-tier global hackathon like TechCrunch Disrupt or the ICPC World Finals.
Your specific work is discussed in major tech media. This means features in TechCrunch, The Verge, Wired, or Ars Technica that profile you or your project. A front-page story on Hacker News or a popular interview on a major engineering podcast (like Software Engineering Daily) can also serve as strong evidence if the reach is significant.
You serve as a judge of the work of others in your field. This could be serving on the Program Committee for top conferences like KubeCon, QCon, or NeurIPS, or acting as a judge for a major competition like the Webby Awards (Apps/Software category). Merging code on GitHub does not count; you must be evaluating peers.
You serve as a judge of the work of others in your field. This could be serving on the Program Committee for top conferences like KubeCon, QCon, or NeurIPS, or acting as a judge for a major competition like the Webby Awards (Apps/Software category). Merging code on GitHub does not count; you must be evaluating peers.
Your total compensation is significantly higher than the average for your role. Your compensation should be in the top 5-10% of software engineers in your metro area.
You created a technology or library that is widely adopted in the industry. This is the most critical criterion for engineers. High-star GitHub repository used by major companies, a core contribution to a framework like React or Kubernetes, or a patented algorithm that is licensed and commercially used by others.
We use "Comparable Evidence" to translate "art exhibitions" into "major technical demos." Non-exclusive examples can include having presented your work live at massive global developer conferences like Google I/O, AWS re:Invent, or Apple’s WWDC, where your code or product was demonstrated to a global audience of developers.
You have authored technical articles in major trade publications. This includes peer-reviewed papers in IEEE/ACM proceedings, but for industry engineers, Widely-read technical articles on distinguished engineering blogs (e.g., the Uber or Netflix Tech Blog) or a published book with O’Reilly or Manning can be helpful.
You are a member of an association that requires outstanding achievements. Standard IEEE membership does not count. We work with IEEE Senior Members (which requires 10 years of experience and peer recommendations) or an ACM Distinguished Member.
We use "Comparable Evidence" to translate "box office receipts" into "commercial software impact." We provide evidence that the software you built directly generates millions in Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR), or logo adoption.
Engineering EB-1A petitions are highly technical, but we have numerous examples of success. The key is to demonstrate that your code or architecture has influenced the broader industry, not just your immediate team. We focus on the metrics you live by: GitHub stars, download counts (NPM/PyPI), latency reductions, and scalability milestones (e.g., "scaled to 100M concurrent users").
The focus must be on your specific, original contributions. Industry engagement, like speaking at KubeCon or writing a blog post that hits the top of Hacker News, is highly valuable evidence of your acclaim. You will need credible, independent references (e.g., Principal Engineers from other companies who use your open-source tool) to vouch for your specific impact on the field.
Isolating Your Individual Contribution Your primary challenge is proving your specific impact within a large engineering organization.
You need to move beyond "I worked on the team that built X." We use Git commit history, design documents, and expert letters to prove that your architectural decisions or specific algorithms were the indispensable "secret sauce" behind the product's success.
Proving "Major Significance" on the Field
Your challenge is proving your work is of significance in the field where your software or systems are being applied in the field, with industry adoption and letter of references being important to our petition process.
We pre-vet our attorneys with strong track records, so you don’t have waste months finding a good one.
Principal Engineers to staff developers trust us with their EB-1A petition.
Work with 15+ years of combined extraordinary visa knowledge. We are confident in your approval.
We guarantee to complete the petition drafting and submission within 1 month of receiving all supporting documents required to file your long term visa or green card petition. Beyond Border is amongst the fastest legal service provider in the industry, thanks to our tech-enabled approach to petition filing and focus on technologists.
The fee will vary depending on the visa or green card type that best suits your need, but you should budget between US$8,000-10,000, excluding government fees and depending on your long term visa or green card category.
You can visit USCIS's free fee calculator to get an estimate for the associated government fees to process your visa.
Beyond Border is a modern immigration platform founded by immigrants from the technology industry for immigrants. We leverage technology to speed up the end-to-end U.S. immigration petition process, and work with a carefully curated network of attorneys who specialize in U.S. immigration cases for technologists.
Our attorneys maintain a 98% success rate throughout their careers with more than 4,000 approvals. We work exclusively with venture backed tech operators and researchers, which allow us maintain a high approval rate and provide profile building advice given sector expertise.
If your application is rejected, we will review the reasons for denial and help you reapply by addressing any issues or missing documentation.
