EB-1A vs O-1A for Founders: How I'd Choose, and Why I Went EB-1A

EB-1A is a US green card category you can file for yourself. O-1A is a temporary work visa that a US employer or agent has to file for you, and that employer can be a company you own. Both ask you to prove "extraordinary ability" with evidence in at least three criteria from a fixed list, or with one major international award. If your record already clears that bar and you want a permanent base, EB-1A is the better tool. If you need to start working in the US through your own company while the record is still being built, O-1A is the bridge.

I went EB-1A. The green card came through in 2024, after an application of about 1,300 pages. What follows is my experience as a founder, not legal advice. Every requirement below comes from an official USCIS page, checked in September 2026 and linked so you can check it again. Talk to an immigration attorney before you file anything.

What EB-1A is, in USCIS's own words

EB-1A (often written EB1A) is the "extraordinary ability" track of the first employment-based preference category. The USCIS EB-1 page asks you to demonstrate extraordinary ability in the sciences, arts, education, business or athletics "through sustained national or international acclaim." The evidence bar is either a one-time achievement ("i.e., Pulitzer, Oscar, Olympic Medal") or at least 3 of 10 criteria. "No offer of employment or labor certification is required." You file Form I-140 yourself.

The ten criteria, in short:

1. Lesser national or international prizes or awards for excellence
2. Membership in associations that demand outstanding achievement
3. Published material about you in professional, trade or major media
4. Judging the work of others
5. Original contributions of major significance
6. Authorship of scholarly articles
7. Display of your work at artistic exhibitions
8. A leading or critical role in organizations with a distinguished reputation
9. A high salary compared with others in the field
10. Commercial success in the performing arts

Two things catch founders out. First, meeting three criteria is only step one. The USCIS Policy Manual then makes a "final merits determination": the evidence taken together has to show you are "one of that small percentage who have risen to the very top of the field of endeavor." Second, a self-petition still has to show that you will keep working in your area in the US, and that your entry will "substantially benefit the United States in the future."

I map all ten criteria to the evidence a founder usually has in a companion piece.

What O-1A is, and who has to file it

O-1A is the temporary counterpart for the sciences, education, business and athletics. The standard reads almost the same: "one of the small percentage who have arisen to the very top of the field of endeavor." The mechanics are what differ.

You cannot file it yourself. According to the USCIS O-1 page, a US employer, a US agent, or a foreign employer through a US agent files Form I-129 for you. The sentence founders need is in the Policy Manual chapter on petitioners: "O beneficiaries may not petition for themselves. However, a separate legal entity owned by the beneficiary, such as a corporation or limited liability company, may file the petition on their behalf." Your own US company can be the petitioner. USCIS may request ownership and control documents to confirm it is a bona fide employer and that the work is not speculative.

The evidence list has eight criteria: essentially the EB-1A list without exhibitions and performing arts, and with a salary criterion that can look forward ("will command a high salary"). On top of that, the petition needs a written advisory opinion from a peer group or an expert in your field, your contract or a summary of an oral agreement, and a description of the activities you will be doing.

It is temporary by design: up to three years at first, then extensions in increments of up to one year. You are authorized to work only during the petition's validity period, and a material change in the terms of your job requires an amended petition.

EB-1A vs O-1A side by side

The premium-processing row comes from the USCIS premium processing page. It buys fast first action on the petition: an approval, a denial, a notice of intent to deny or a request for evidence. It does not buy a green card. After an I-140 approval you still need an immigrant visa number to be available, then adjustment of status inside the US or consular processing abroad, as the USCIS employment-based green card page explains. Filing fees change and depend on who files, so read the current USCIS fee schedule rather than any number in a blog post.

"3 of 8" makes O-1A look like the easier exam. I would not read it that way. The two definitions of extraordinary ability are almost word for word the same, and USCIS says a previous O-1 approval "can be an indicator of eligibility" in an EB-1A case, but "it is not determinative."

How I'd choose, as a founder

Four questions, in this order.

1. Can you prove three criteria today? Not argue them, prove them, with a document behind every claim. If yes, EB-1A is open to you now. If not, the honest options are O-1A or more time building the record.

2. How soon do you need to work in the US? If the answer is "this quarter," the practical route is O-1A through your own US entity, with premium processing. The green card route has more steps after the petition.

3. How many things do you run? An O-1A describes one job and one set of activities, and material changes need a new filing. A green card is not tied to any petitioner. For a founder whose role will change, or who runs more than one company, that freedom is worth more than it looks on paper.

4. Is your US company real? A petitioning company with no operations and no actual work for you is a weak petitioner. Build the entity before you lean on it.

You also don't have to pick one forever. Under 8 CFR 214.2(o)(13), filing an immigrant petition "shall not be a basis for denying an O-1 petition," and an O-1 holder can "lawfully seek to become a permanent resident." That makes a sequence possible: O-1A to start, EB-1A when the record is ready.

One more option founders forget is EB-1C, for multinational managers and executives. If you ran your company abroad in a managerial or executive role for at least one year in the three years before the petition, and your US company has a qualifying relationship to it and has been doing business for at least a year, it may fit. Your US employer files it, and you don't need an extraordinary-ability record. The requirements sit on the same EB-1 page.

Why I went EB-1A

By the time I filed, my evidence question was assembly, not building. I had started Dronehub as Cervi Robotics in Rzeszów in 2015. The public record was already there: 3× Forbes 30 Under 30 (Poland 2020 and 2021, Ukraine 2023), the Financial Times FT1000 in 2023, patents in autonomous drone technology granted in Poland, a 2017 European Space Agency contract, Dronehub's coordination of the Horizon 2020 project HUUVER, and a $500K finalist spot at GENIUS NY in 2022, which brought the company to Syracuse. I wrote about that step in Entering the US Market via GENIUS NY.

In a 2024 interview with Biznes i Styl I called the green card, the so-called talent visa, necessary for doing business in the US. EB-1A also let me file for myself, with no employer petitioning on my behalf and nobody else assembling the case. In my write-up of the petition I called that independence "the entire appeal — and the entire burden."

Since then my work has spread across several companies. Today I run Dronehub, teach entrepreneurs to build with AI through VADYM.AI and KIERUNEK.AI, and I'm launching two US companies: Oswin AI in AI education and Oswin Labs, an AI and robotics R&D company in the Research Triangle, North Carolina. I explained why I'm building in the US separately. A green card is not tied to one employer, which is question 3 above in practice.

The price was the file. My approved petition ran about 1,300 pages. The number is not the point. Every claim needs an exhibit, and 1,300 pages is what years of exhibits add up to.

Mistakes I'd avoid

• Choosing the visa before auditing the evidence. List every award, article, judging role, patent and publication with a link and a date. The list picks the visa, not the other way around.
• Counting company recognition as personal recognition. For the awards criterion, USCIS looks at what you received, not what your employer received.
• Assuming O-1A is a light file. It still needs three criteria with documents, an advisory opinion and a real petitioner.
• Stretching. Every claim has to match its exhibit exactly. One exposed exaggeration poisons the honest claims around it.

Where to start

Open a document and list what you can prove on paper today, then map each line to a criterion. Three or more with real exhibits: talk to an attorney about EB-1A. Fewer: take the O-1A route through your own company, or keep building. Either way, the record comes first and the visa follows.

For the wider decision around the move, I wrote about where deep-tech founders should build, raise and sell and about running one company across two continents. If you're weighing the same choice and want to compare notes, write to me.