A live link is not an evidence archive

My EB-1A petition used media coverage published from 2011 to 2018.

I filed in 2024.

That gap changed how I thought about a URL.

A link can help a reader locate a source. It does not preserve the source by itself.

Pages move. Headlines change. Images stop loading. An article that opens today may not open when you need it later.

For every online source I wanted to rely on, I tried to keep an identifiable copy with:

• the publication name
• the full title
• the date and byline when available
• the article body
• the original URL
• enough page context to show where it came from

When a source needed translation, I kept the original with the translated copy so the two stayed connected.

Saving the page did not make the evidence stronger. It preserved what the source actually showed at the time I collected it.

Here is a simple test.

Turn off the internet and open your evidence folder.

Can a stranger identify the publication, date, title, and relevant content without visiting the URL?

If the answer is no, you may have a bookmark rather than an archive.

Keep the link.

Also keep the evidence the link currently leads to.