EB-1 criteria — which ones does USCIS count? Articles about you — does that even work?

[MarinaRPro]

I’ve heard that for EB-1 you can use articles written about you, not by you. Is that really one of the criteria USCIS accepts, or is that something else? I don’t quite understand the difference between publications you write yourself and pieces that mention you.

[gosha (Сергей Гошевский)]

There are two different criteria, and they’re constantly confused. Articles you write yourself go under “scholarly articles” - that’s one. Articles about you in the media or professional publications are a separate criterion, “published material about the alien”. USCIS doesn’t require sole authorship for the first, but if you’re the first or sole author it carries more weight. Coverage of a project or work that doesn’t directly mention your name is a gray area and may not count toward the media criterion, because formally it’s not about you.

[MarinaRPro]

Ah, that’s clearer now, thanks. And if an article about the project mentions me by name a couple of times as a developer, does that already count as meeting the media criterion, or is it still a gray area?

[Egor]

@gosha

Two different criteria — they get confused all the time. Articles you write yourself go under “scholarly articles” — that’s one. Articles about you in the media or professional publications are a separate criterion, “published material about the alien.” USCIS does not require sole authorship for the first, but if you are the first or sole author it carries more weight. A piece about a project or work without your name being mentioned directly is already a gray area and may not count as the media criterion, because formally it’s not about you.

Yes, that’s correct.
In one case you write a scholarly article and you are the author (co-author), and in the other case — and this is a different criterion for EB-1 or O-1 — a journalist writes about you.

In that case publications must be directly about your achievements, extraordinary abilities, career, or experience. They can also be about your company or project. USCIS made changes to the Manual in 2025 and added an amendment that allows counting articles about your work without your name, if you tie the project to yourself personally. But in that situation you also cannot be the author of the submitted article (that falls under the “Scholarly publications” criterion).

And don’t forget that for both O-1 and EB-1 you need proof that the article or interview was actually published: the article title, publication date, and the author’s name must be provided (a corporate/publisher name or an “editorial staff” byline does not qualify).

[MarinaRPro]

Egor, you quoted but didn’t write anything — did you want to add something?