Write the case theory before the cover letter
Before I drafted my EB-1A cover letter, I forced the case into two sentences. The first sentence named my field: community building in technology and entrepreneurship.
Topic
DIY
A collection of 26 issues
The translated page still needs the original beside it
My media evidence included a full-page feature in the French publication La Tribune. An English translation made the words readable to someone who did not read French.
A team result is not the same as your role in it
Founders of the Future ran more than 80 events and reached more than 4,000 aspiring entrepreneurs. Those are results of the initiative.
Your petition needs a dictionary before it needs another paragraph
A long petition can become inconsistent one small phrase at a time. The field has one name in the introduction and a slightly different name in final merits.
A blank in your evidence map is a decision point
A blank cell in a claim-proof map can feel like a verdict. It is not.
Original contribution needed outcomes, not activity
The original contribution criterion was one of the easiest places to confuse effort with evidence. I had done a lot.
Use quotes after the claim, not instead of it
A quote can make evidence feel stronger because it comes from outside your own voice. That does not mean the quote explains itself.
When I reused evidence, I changed the question
One thing I had to learn while drafting my EB-1A petition was that reuse is not automatically repetition. The same fact can appear in more than one part of a petition.
A milestone is not a claim yet
One mistake I had to watch for in my EB-1A petition was treating milestones like arguments. "I was featured in Forbes."
I did not give all five criteria equal space
I filed my EB-1A petition with five criteria. That did not mean I had five equal drafting assignments.