Imperium Group creates PR articles for many clients who are seeking EB1A visas, but it  is unable to offer legal advice. Imperium Group recommends that you always work with an immigration attorney so that you can have accurate information about your EB1A visa application.

If you are planning to come to the United States on an EB1A visa, public relations can make the process easier - so long as you do some advanced planning. The focus of this post will be to show you how to set up your PR campaign so that it supports your application for an EB1A visa.

Let’s review the basics of an EB1A visa.

The EB1A is an employment-based, first-preference visa that allows noncitizens of extraordinary ability in the sciences, arts, education, business, or athletics to work in the United States. Roughy 40,000 EB-1 visas are issued each year, so as you likely already know, they don’t come easily. 

To be one of the few noncitizens who receive an EB1A, you must meet specific requirements, primarily that you have “sustained national or international acclaim and that your achievements have been recognized in your field of expertise.”

Again, that’s not easy to do, but it is achievable. You basically have two options:

- You must either include evidence of a one-time achievement (major internationally-recognized award, such as the Pulitizer or an Olympic medal)

- Or, you must meet 3 of the 10 criteria listed online, some of which are below (as explained by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services):

1. Evidence of published material about you in professional or major trade publications or other major media

2. Evidence that you have been asked to judge the work of others, either individually or on a panel

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

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

5. Evidence that your work has been displayed at artistic exhibitions or showcases

6. Evidence of your performance of a leading or critical role in distinguished organizations

7. Evidence of your commercial successes in the performing arts

There are two words to focus on here: evidence and time. The more evidence you can provide, the better, and the more time you give yourself to do this, the better your results will probably be. In other words, waiting until the last minute isn’t a good idea.

Create a schedule of the events that will lead up to when you file for your EB1A visa.

We recommend that you sit down with a calendar and decide on key dates. At a minimum, it should include these events:

- When you plan to meet with an immigration attorney

- When you will actually begin to fill out the EB1A application (and how long that will take)

- When you will file your application

- How long processing is projected to take

- The deadlines for any other tasks that your attorney gives you to complete

Once you have those dates down, you can then plan your public relations campaign so that your EB1A application will be stronger.

Here are a few crucial things to know and do before you jump into the details of your PR campaign.

So, it’s time to figure out how you will use public relations to increase your chances of getting an EB1A visa. Mark two dates in stone: today and when you plan to submit your application. How much time do you have in-between the two? Ideally, you’ll have a year, but the point is to know just how many months you have to work with. Then you can more accurately determine how many articles to do and when to release them.

Next, keep these things in mind:

- You won’t be putting press releases on the Internet. They are always written from the subject’s viewpoint (yours), so they don’t carry much weight for EB1A applications.

- Instead, you’ll be publishing organic articles on high-quality platforms so that it looks like other people, such as journalists, wrote about you.

How long does it take for articles to go live? That’s the $1MM question, and there are many answers: one week, one month, longer…It just depends on the platform, and as you plan your PR campaign, please keep this in mind. Never commit to publishing an article on a platform until you know its approximate go-live time and how that will fit in with your PR plan.

Now it’s time to plan your articles for your EB1A visa.

For this part, you will need to brainstorm two things: what your articles will be about and how many you plan to release.

Remember that you must meet at least three of the criteria listed on the website of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ website. So, your first step is to decide which three you can fulfill (unless, of course, you won a Pulitizer, in which case you will only need to spotlight that achievement).

Once you have your criteria, you will look at your calendar and compare how much time you have vs. how many articles you would like to release.

Let’s say that you have a relatively long period of time in front of you, such as a year. This actually brings up a different scenario: what you have already accomplished and what you may accomplish in the coming months. Consider an expert violinist who has performed in concerts all over India and who has plans to play in a major concert hall in London. That person might want to publish twenty articles, with half of them focused on their past performances and half of them centered on what they plan to do in the future.

If you have less time, however, or if you don’t anticipate doing something that you would like the immigration officers to consider, then most or all of your articles would be focused on your history.

Next, decide on the platforms that you would like to use for your articles. The bigger they are, the more credibility they will have and the higher their articles will probably rank on Google. 

Once you have decided on your platforms, write your preferred “go live” date for each article on your schedule. That’s the date you want your article to be published on the Internet. From there, find out each platform’s publishing times and write on your calendar when an article needs to be submitted to make your “go live” date. Be sure to pad this with a few extra days - articles pass through so many hands that delays and hiccups are very common. If something supposedly takes three business days to be published, mark it on your calendar as taking six.

Plan on every article taking three weeks to write, revise, and send off for publication. Why so long? Well, a PR professional should take a lot less time than that (and at Imperium, we certainly prioritize a balance of speed and quality), but you don’t want to create a schedule that is so tightly choreographed that the whole sequence falls apart at the slightest trouble. You may get sick. Your child may have trouble at school. A blue moon hits and throws everything off. Anything can happen to slow the process down, so try to leave yourself a realistic, doable schedule.

Once you have the start dates for each article written on your calendar, you’re ready for the next step.

Decide on the actual content/angle for each EB1A article.

At Imperium, there are two different types of articles we recommend that you publish:

- Third parties write about you and your accomplishments.

- You are presented as the writer of the articles and receive the byline.

Your main goal for each article will be to show that you have extraordinary abilities in your field. Accordingly, these articles are technical or academic-based as appropriate and are designed to show that you are an expert. Don’t be afraid to toot your own horn and to list your achievements. The more detail you can put in, the better, but remember that many platforms will take only 1,000 words at the most. So, be selective with your details so that the immigration officers will get the full picture.

Summing up the EB1A/PR process

1. Remember to start early. Leave yourself as much time as possible so that you can optimize your EB1A application.

2. Get all major dates written on your calendar so that you can be strategic about when you will release articles.

3. Decide how many articles you would like to have and how many will be split between past achievements and coverage of upcoming accomplishments.

4. Understand the platforms you will target for your articles, including their publishing times, and create a realistic schedule for writing each article and getting it published.

5. Write each article so that you are presented as an expert in your field, including your thoughts, awards, contributions, and other significant information.

Imperium Group wishes you success with your EB1A application. We hope to see you here in the United States, impacting your field here just as much as you have always done. Good luck!

Imperium Group is an American public relations and marketing consultancy firm. Founded in 2016, it specializes in guaranteed placements, creating utmost transparency for its clients. Imperium Group generates over 15M impressions a month for its clients. Its team is based out of New York, Dallas, and Los Angeles.  

For more information about Imperium Group, please see https://navigator.imperiumgrouppr.com/.