My EB‑1A “Extraordinary Ability” Green Card Journey and My Full I‑140 Petition (Fully Published)
Hi, I’m Pierre. I was born in France, spent most of my adult life in the United Kingdom, and earlier this year I fulfilled a lifelong dream: I moved to New York City as a U.S. permanent resident after receiving my EB‑1A “Extraordinary Ability” green card.
I’ve spent the last 15 years working at the intersection of technology, entrepreneurship, and community building. I’ve built several companies, run two major founder‑support organizations, and organized over 300 tech events across Europe and North America. Community building has always been at the center of my life and, as it turns out, it became the cornerstone of my EB‑1A case as well.
But this story didn’t start in New York. It began two years earlier.
A Two‑Year Journey Toward a Dream
In July 2023, I left London after nearly a decade. I became a digital nomad with one goal in mind: figure out a path to move to the United States. At that time, I knew about the U.S. immigration system but I had never heard of the EB‑1A category. I didn’t know a person living abroad could become a permanent resident without being sponsored, without being employed by a U.S. company, and without depending on the Green Card Lottery.
But it is possible.
And I’m living proof.
When I first learned about the EB‑1A visa, and that it allows self‑petitioning, something clicked. It was the first time I saw a path that felt aligned with the work I had been doing for years and my current situation. I decided to apply.
And more importantly:
I decided to do it without a lawyer.
A Completely DIY EB‑1A
I self‑petitioned the entire EB‑1A from start to finish, no attorney, no employer sponsor, and no legal editing. I relied on:
- hundreds of hours of my own research,
- an excellent DIY course from Oscar Green Card, and
- a tool I built for myself to write my cover letter, recommendation letters, and organize all my evidence.
That internal tool eventually evolved into Vislify, the EB‑1A co‑pilot app I am now making public so others can go through this process with far less pain and uncertainty.
My goal:
To empower people like me, people who don’t have $10,000–$15,000 for an attorney, to still put together a polished, professional, and successful petition.
Why I’m Publishing My Full EB‑1A I‑140 Petition
When preparing my case, I searched everywhere for real, complete EB‑1A examples. Not just snippets. Not templates. Not marketing PDFs.
I needed full petitions, cover letters, exhibits, forms, exactly the way they were sent to USCIS.
And I found only a handful.
The public petitions from people like Razvan Marinescu and Andrey Solovyev helped me tremendously and I can see that since then, you can also find the ones of Ryan-Rhys Griffiths, Kirill Nikitin, Alexey Inkin. You can count all public examples on one hand. Seeing full petitions was incredibly valuable, not to copy them, but to understand structure, presentation, and strategy.
So as a way to pay it forward, I’m publishing my entire EB‑1A I‑140 petition, exactly as I sent it to USCIS, including cover pages, forms, the full 40 exhibits, and every letter.
I removed only:
- sensitive personal data,
- passport numbers, and
- the private contact details of my recommenders.
Other than that, you are seeing exactly what the USCIS officer saw.
You can access the full petition here:
(Note: I’m not a lawyer; nothing here is legal advice.)
How My EB‑1A Petition Was Structured
Below is the exact structure of the package I mailed, in this order:
- Form G‑1450 — Credit card authorization for filing fees($715 I‑140 fee, $2,805 premium processing fee, $300 asylum program fee)
- Form G‑1145 — E‑notification request
- Form I‑140 — Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker
- Form I‑907 — Premium Processing Request
- Form ETA‑9089 (in duplicate)
- Cover Letter in Support of the I‑140 Petition
- List of Exhibits
- Exhibits 1 to 40
And here is what it looked like the day I mailed it:
308 pages, 1.6 kg (3.52 lb): a small but very real baby.
What Comes Next on This Blog
This article is just the beginning. Over the next few weeks, I’ll publish:
- A breakdown of my full EB‑1A strategy
- How I defined my field (“Community Building in Technology & Entrepreneurship”)
- How I chose my criteria and selected evidence
- How I drafted my cover letter
- Step‑by‑step timelines
- Deep dives into consular processing, embassy choice, the interview, medical exam, etc.
- Lessons learned, mistakes I made, and tips for anyone applying without a lawyer
My hope is simple: to demystify the EB‑1A process and make it accessible to more people who deserve it.
If you want to write your petition using the same system I used for mine, you can sign up for Vislify here: