Can Ordinary People Apply for the U.S. EB-1A Extraordinary Ability Green Card in 2026?

Core Conclusion First: The widely circulated claim that "ordinary people can also apply for EB-1A" is essentially marketing hype from immigration agencies, and it does not reflect the real review landscape in 2026. As of now, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) overall EB-1A approval rate has plummeted to 47.5%, with review standards tightening across the board. The new AI-assisted adjudication system has been fully implemented and is now in routine use. Moreover, the gray-industry chain of fraudulent credential packaging, previously exposed by the media, is now being rigorously investigated and cracked down upon by authorities. What is certain is that the current multi-layered review system leaves no room for “packaged” materials to slip through—fraudulently manufactured “extraordinary ability” cases have no chance of passing. While EB-1A does not require applicants to hold Nobel Prizes, Oscars, or other top-tier global awards, the core threshold has never been lowered: applicants must demonstrate that they are at the top of their specific field—a standard far beyond the reach of ordinary professionals.

I. EB-1A Application Volumes Continue to Surge, But Approval Rates Have Plunged

Among U.S. employment-based immigration green card categories, the EB-1A Extraordinary Ability program has always been a popular choice for applicants from China. Its biggest advantage is that it allows self-petitioning, without the need for a U.S. employer sponsor or the cumbersome PERM labor certification process, offering greater procedural flexibility. For applicants born in mainland China, although EB-1A has a visa bulletin backlog, the wait is significantly shorter compared to EB-2 and EB-3. As of July 2026, the Final Action Date for the EB-1 category for mainland China is stuck at June 1, 2023. However, the surge in popularity and skyrocketing application numbers have not led to looser standards, but rather to a continued drop in approval rates.

According to official USCIS data, EB-1A application volumes have tripled over the past four years: in the same quarter of 2021, there were only about 2,500 filings; by the second quarter of 2025, quarterly filings approached 7,500—a remarkable increase. In contrast, approval rates have continued to decline: in fiscal year (FY) 2024, the annual approval rate was 72.23%; in Q1 of FY2025 it rebounded slightly to 74.86%, then fell to 72.72% in Q2, 66.6% in Q3, and further down to 53.4% in Q4, bringing the FY2025 average to just 66.9%. Entering Q1 of FY2026, the EB-1A approval rate fell by half—plummeting to 47.5%, a new low in recent years.

In just two years, the EB-1A approval rate has dropped by more than 24 percentage points—a cliff-like decline. Even more alarming, in Q1 of FY2026, the number of EB-1A denials reached 2,414, surpassing the 2,180 approvals for the first time, making denials the new norm. Nationwide, pending EB-1A cases have now exceeded 24,653, placing immense pressure on adjudicators and leading to even stricter scrutiny.

These figures send a clear signal: the era of low barriers, high tolerance, and easy approvals for EB-1A has definitively ended.

II. Debunking the Myth of "Ordinary People Can Apply for EB-1A"

Many potential immigrants have likely encountered marketing slogans like "ordinary people can apply for EB-1A" on social media and immigration agency channels—this is basically a standard clickbait tactic used by Chinese agencies.

Where does this claim come from?

In fact, this statement is a complete misrepresentation from start to finish. It does not mean that average office workers or ordinary practitioners qualify. The agencies' real logic is: through comprehensive document packaging, resume bolstering, and achievement embellishment, they can help unqualified applicants fabricate credentials that appear to meet the EB-1A ten-criteria standard. In previous years, when reviews were more lenient and human adjudicators had higher tolerance, such gray-area operations had a chance of slipping through.

How mature is the "packaging industry chain"?

This mature fraud industry chain was fully exposed in 2026. On January 14 of this year, CBS News published an in-depth investigative report that thoroughly dissected the gray-market fraud and credential packaging behind EB-1A, bringing the industry's chaos to light. The core fraudulent tactics revealed were remarkably formulaic:

• Paper authorships for sale: For just $500, one could become a named author on a legitimate academic paper without any research or writing contribution.

• Citation padding: Intermediaries set up dedicated teams to write and publish articles specifically to inflate citation counts for clients, artificially creating an illusion of high academic impact.

• Purchased awards and honors: Custom-made, fictitious industry awards and accolades were mass-produced to quickly build a polished resume.

• Overseas platform transactions: Telegram, Facebook, WhatsApp and other overseas social platforms became the primary marketplaces for fraudulent materials and credential packaging.

Two former USCIS officers admitted in interviews that the agency had long been aware of widespread credential fraud and purchased materials among EB-1A applicants. One officer stated bluntly: "As long as you are willing to pay, you can buy a full set of compliant-looking documents to fabricate qualifications that meet the requirements."

This fraud industry, which matured in the U.S., has grown even more brazen and large-scale in China. Compared to English-language materials, which are easier for U.S. adjudicators to verify, Chinese-language materials enjoy a natural information barrier and language gap. Most USCIS reviewers are not proficient in Chinese and cannot quickly distinguish between genuine and fake domestic awards, journal articles, media outlets, or professional credentials. This information asymmetry has allowed Chinese fraud intermediaries to operate with impunity, producing a massive volume of watered-down, packaged, and fictitious EB-1A applications.

How serious are the consequences of packaging?

USCIS has made its position clear: any submission of false materials, deliberate concealment, or misrepresentation will be seriously pursued. The penalties are severe and go far beyond a simple denial:

• Immediate denial of the application.

• Placement on the immigration blacklist, deemed inadmissible, with permanent restrictions on applying for any U.S. visa.

• Revocation of already approved green cards or visas upon retrospective review.

• USCIS has already implemented routine retroactive audits of all previously approved cases, meaning even old fraudulent cases will be uncovered and penalized.

In the stringent review environment of 2026, document packaging not only has near-zero success rates but also permanently brands the applicant with immigration fraud—a cost far outweighing any potential benefit.

III. Three Major Changes in 2026 That Make Packaging Impossible

Change 1: AI-Assisted Adjudication System Goes Live

Over the past year, USCIS has continuously rolled out AI-powered adjudication tools. After iterative optimization, the system is now fully operational and routinely used throughout the EB-1A review process.

The core advantage of AI-assisted review is zero tolerance and no blind spots, completely eliminating the loopholes previously exploited through human adjudication:

• Intelligent pattern matching: Through big-data comparison, the system quickly identifies logical inconsistencies, content conflicts, and formatting anomalies that human reviewers might miss.

• Automatic RFE triggers: Even if a submission appears complete and compliant on the surface, if the AI detects even minor discrepancies, it automatically issues a Request for Evidence (RFE), forcing the applicant to supply additional supporting materials.

• Priority to hard evidence: Only verifiable, properly sourced, and quantifiable achievements can pass the AI's initial screening.

Law Offices of Brian Jiang hereby reminds: In 2026, the first hurdle for EB-1A applicants is not a human immigration officer, but the uniformly standardized AI initial review. The AI cannot subjectively overlook flaws; it mechanically matches materials against the standards and checks for consistency. Any timeline contradictions, sudden spikes in achievements, or questionable sources will be automatically flagged and subjected to heightened scrutiny—with virtually no chance of slipping through.

Change 2: CBS Exposure Triggers "Crackdown"

The CBS News investigation brought the rampant fraud and credential packaging in EB-1A into the public spotlight, prompting U.S. immigration authorities to take it very seriously and directly fueling a new round of enforcement actions.

In response, USCIS has introduced multiple stringent measures:

• In December 2025, it established a dedicated Fraud Review Center to coordinate compliance checks across all immigration petitions, targeting fraudulent activities.

• It significantly enhanced evidence verification efforts and established multi-layered adjudication mechanisms to plug loopholes in document fraud and credential inflation.

• It initiated retroactive audits of previously approved EB-1A cases, re-examining historical cases for fraud.

The era when human adjudicators would tolerate minor flaws or vaguely qualified cases is over. All suspicious or packaged materials are now strictly adjudicated.

Change 3: The Old Mindset of "Just Meeting Three Criteria Is Enough" Is Now Obsolete

USCIS now strictly enforces the two-step Kazarian evaluation framework in all cases—a major pitfall for many applicants:

• Step 1 is the threshold: Meeting any three of the ten EB-1A criteria merely qualifies the applicant to file—it is the minimum entry condition.

• Step 2 is the decisive final review: The adjudicator then conducts a holistic assessment of the applicant's achievement quality, industry impact, and professional standing to determine whether the applicant truly belongs to the small minority of top-tier talent in their field.

In short, meeting three criteria only gets you a "ticket" to apply—it is by no means a guarantee of approval. The current review no longer compares the number of criteria met, but emphasizes the quality of achievements and industry recognition. With surging applications and limited visa numbers, EB-1A adjudication logic has shifted from "meet the standard and pass" to "horizontal comparison and selection of the best"—only truly outstanding applicants will succeed.

IV. Why Are Agencies Still Advertising "Ordinary People Can Apply"?

Since packaging no longer works and standards have tightened significantly, why do some agencies persist in promoting "ordinary people can apply for EB-1A"?

The core reason is simple: profit motive.

The typical fee for EB-1A credential packaging ranges from tens of thousands to over a hundred thousand RMB, and this is a non-refundable upfront cost. In most agency contracts, it is explicitly stated that regardless of the final outcome, the packaging fee will not be refunded.

For these agencies, this is a guaranteed profit model. Even with approval rates below 50% and the majority of applicants being denied, the agencies still pocket the upfront packaging fees without bearing any risk. This is precisely why such misleading advertisements persist.

V. The Real Cost of EB-1A: Far Beyond What "Ordinary People" Can Afford

Setting aside marketing rhetoric, the reality is that "ordinary people can apply for EB-1A" is a complete misconception—both in terms of qualification thresholds and financial costs, which are well beyond the means of average professionals.

First, official mandatory fees: The standard I-140 filing fee for EB-1A is $665 (or $715 for paper filing); effective March 2026, the premium processing fee increased to $2,965. Subsequent steps require NVC visa fees of about $345, a green card production fee of $220, and medical examination costs of around $300. Many applicants overlook the essential third-party costs for translation, notarization, and authentication—hidden but mandatory expenses. Under USCIS regulations, all Chinese-language documents, resumes, and certificates must be accompanied by professionally translated English versions from qualified providers, and core materials such as birth certificates, police clearance certificates, academic credentials, and marriage certificates must also be notarized and authenticated. Depending on the volume of documents, complexity, and number of recommendation letters, the total translation and notarization costs generally range from 5,000 to 10,000 RMB, and can be higher for complex cases. When combined with standard attorney fees and the agency's achievement packaging and resume enhancement services, the total expenditure easily exceeds several hundred thousand RMB.

Such financial outlay is far beyond what an average salaried employee can comfortably bear. Even during the more lenient, packaging-friendly years, EB-1A was never a channel for ordinary people—it was always reserved for high-performing professionals and high-net-worth individuals.

VI. Professional Commentary from the Law Offices of Brian Jiang

Objectively speaking, EB-1A indeed does not require a Nobel Prize, Olympic gold medal, or Oscar. Applicants may file as long as they meet at least three of the ten criteria—and this is precisely the point agencies exploit to mislead applicants. However, "no top-tier award required" absolutely does not mean "ordinary people can apply."

The core essence of EB-1A has never changed: the applicant must possess outstanding professional advantages and core influence in their specific niche, reaching a level that places them among the top tier of their field. This is not a standard for ordinary people—it is an exclusive threshold for the top 1%-5% of professionals in their industry.

Three key pieces of advice from our firm for EB-1A applicants:

First, completely abandon any hope of packaging fraud and evaluate yourself honestly based on your genuine achievements. The 2026 review system is fully closed-loop with no exploitable vulnerabilities. USCIS not only verifies the authenticity of achievement evidence but also rigorously examines the logic of your resume, growth trajectory, and the reasonableness of your achievement accumulation. Papers, awards, and media reports produced in a short burst are easily identifiable as fabricated by both the AI system and adjudicators.

Second, fully understand the two-step adjudication framework. Meeting three criteria is only the entry ticket; the real key to success is the final value judgment. You must demonstrate not just that "I have these achievements," but that "these achievements place me in an irreplaceable top-tier position within my niche, far surpassing ordinary peers."

Third, face the harsh reality of visa backlogs and limited quotas. Currently, the EB-1 Final Action Date for mainland China is stuck at June 2023, with a long wait ahead. The global annual quota for the EB-1 category is approximately 40,000 visas, but due to the 7% per-country cap, the total annual quota for mainland Chinese applicants is only about 2,800, shared among EB-1A, EB-1B, and EB-1C. After deducting the allotments for EB-1B and EB-1C, the available annual visas for EB-1A principal applicants from China are only about 2,000 (including derivatives). Assuming an average of 2 dependents per principal applicant, this means only about 700 principal applicants can be approved each year. With scarce visas and fierce competition, only those with truly exceptional credentials can prevail through the multi-layered selection process.

In conclusion, EB-1A has never been an easy shortcut for ordinary people—it is a dedicated channel for top-tier talent who have achieved extraordinary results in their fields. If you are uncertain about your qualifications, we invite you to schedule a free consultation with our firm. With over 30 years of deep industry experience, we provide objective, accurate eligibility assessments and tailored application strategies.