US immigration deserves a bit more of an open discussion. Now that I have my green card, I’m excited to share how I approached my immigration journey. Here’s how I did it.

Overview

I went from an employer sponsored J1 visa to an O1 visa, and then self petitioned for an EB1-A green card. I applied for the EB-1A; this is the most challenging green card type you can go for, and allows you to self petition. EB-1B is also a fast option, but can not be self-petitioned. Another (safer) option for me was the NIW EB-2. The NIW can be self petitioned, but does have a country dependent wait time, which is 1 year for Belgium (you have to wait 1 year before you may submit your I-485 application for permanent residence. Once you submit the I-485, you still have to wait to receive the green card, which is 4-12 months). Considering I’m interested in entrepreneurial activities in my field of expertise, the green card route was an urgent decision for me, rather than sticking to O1.

Obviously, I did not just work 2 years on this, but many years, by performing interesting academic research in biomanufacturing/synthetic biology/biosecurity. Scholarly excellence gets you the O1 visa and the NIW EB-2 green card with certainty, by showing you can provide future benefit to the US. If you want an EB-1A/B as a scholar, you’ll have to show impact of your work that already happened and not your future promises, which I did through showing my patents/inventions are actively used and my work impacted large organizations already.

Breakdown of costs

Since the J-1 and O-1 were sponsored by my employer and paid by them, my main costs were travel related for these two visas. Roughly I spent $2000 on traveling back and forth for the O1 visa process. After O1 approval I also switched employers once, which was a quick 1 week turnaround time for O1 transfer with expedited processing (employer paid). I didn’t include this in my timeline.

The EB-1 was a self petition and the majority of my immigration costs. Note that the law firm I used was the same law firm that submitted my O-1, and thus a significant discount was applied since they already had the majority of my file put together. I decided to go with a law firm, to alleviate stress. I know they were successfull in my previous two visas, and they were easy to work with. Anyone who knows me, knows I’m not a big spender and prefer to do things myself. This case is an exception. USCIS has such a weird preference in language and presentation of your file, that I could not have done this successfully. As a scientist, my language would have been very different. The other reason that made costs higher, is due to the rejection of my application. I knew the EB-1A would be a very difficult green card to get, and it got denied. I then decided to appeal that decision, which worked, but did cost some lawyer time. Again though, very happy to have a lawyer for this. This is something I would not have done by myself. I would have decided to apply for an NIW if I didn’t use a lawyer.

  • ~$2000 total travel costs for J1 and O1
  • ~$7900 EB1-A self petition I-140 legal fees, filing fees
  • ~$2900 I-140 intent to deny rebutal legal fees
  • ~$5300 I-485 EB-1A legal fees, filing fees, work permit, travel permit
  • ~$400 Medical exam fees
  • ~$100 ID photos, UPS shipping fees

TOTAL: ~$18600

Timeline

  • March, 2022: J-1 Internship application submitted to J-1 sponsor
  • March, 2022: DS-160
  • March, 2022: J-1 Internship consular interview (Brussels) and approval
  • March, 2023: O-1 Application submitted
  • June, 2023: O-1 approval for consular processing
  • July, 2023: O-1 Consular interview (Brussels)
  • July, 2023: O-1 Visa in passport
  • February, 2024: EB-1A petition received (I-140, petition for alien worker)
  • February, 2024: EB-1A Notice of Intent to Deny (NOITD): my application was denied. This is worse than just a Request for Evidence (3 months to answer). However, I found the USCIS arguments not reasonable, and decided to respond. Alternatively I could’ve now switched to NIW EB-2, which would have been easier.
  • March, 2024: Submitted response to NOITD
  • April, 2024: EB-1A I-140 Approval. Now I could submit an I-485 Application.
  • April, 2024: Medical Exam
  • June, 2024 : Mailed in EB-1A Application submitted for change of status, work permit and travel permit (Form I-485, Form I-765, Form I-131)
  • June, 2024: Form I-485, Form I-765, Form I-131, were received
  • June, 2024: Biometrics appointment
  • June, 2024: Form I-485 Request for initial evidence was sent
  • July, 2024: Form I-485 Response To USCIS’ Request for evidence was received
  • July, 2024: New EAD card ordered
  • July, 2024: Approved Form I-765, Application for Employment Authorization
  • July, 2024: EAD Card received by mail
  • Sep, 2024: Surprise interview scheduled.
  • Nov, 2024: Attended rescheduled interview. I-485 approved

I hope this is helpful to you.