✅ EB-1A: approval
Story of obtaining an EB-1A visa in the beauty industry with approval after an RFE. The process took 2 years, including transferring the interview to Thailand.
Case parameters
Filing: 22 July 2024
Decision: 30 October 2024
Attorney: Shamaev
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✓Awards
Confirmed
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✓Membership in associations
Confirmed
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✓Media
Publications confirmed
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✓Scientific publications
Confirmed
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✓Jury
Confirmed
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✓Contribution to the industry
Confirmed
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✓Leading role
Confirmed
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✓Increased salary
Confirmed
How it all happened
#EB1-a #success #beauty #business #Bangkok
So friends, it’s time to add the timing to the stats:
If anyone forgot, briefly: field — Business (beauty industry), attorney Shamaev. Time from contract signing to finish — 2 years.
We closed the following criteria: awards, membership in associations, media, scientific publications, jury, contribution to the industry, leading (critical) role, increased salary, supported by: expert opinion letters, evaluation letters, letters of intent, recommendation letters.
After the first filing we received an RFE, from which it was clear that the jury and scientific publications were accepted. Together with the attorney’s team we strengthened the other criteria, re-emphasized and reinforced some of them.
If we talk about the case timeline, the process was as follows:
22 July 2024 - filing (Premium)
2 August - RFE
30 October - approval
12 November - welcome message from NVC
19 November - interview transfer from Poland to Thailand (no residence permit, no country tie — we managed to transfer without any of that)
28 January - letter with assigned new case number BNK…..
6 February - delivery of civil documents to NVC
26 February - DQ
17 April - letter with interview appointment date set for 17 June.
10 June - medical exam at BNH Hospital Bangkok. (Pay careful attention to all vaccinations, prepare documents (translations) in advance about which vaccinations you’ve had, otherwise they’ll give you boosters for 10 things in one day + flu. It took us 2 hours to prove that the vaccinations were done according to legal norms; we prepared a special medically certified translation of the vaccination record. In the end they still administered flu and polio, but all other vaccinations were accepted.)
17 June - interview in Bangkok.
There are 8 windows in operation: 4 for document intake and 4 for the actual interviews.
The interview lasted about 10 minutes. A very pleasant officer, clearly following procedure, no unnecessary questions — questions only about the case. She asked: “I know that for this visa you need to possess extraordinary abilities and bring a significant contribution to something — tell me more about yourself and your contribution?” Then questions about the awards, in which year they were received. Questions about the media where the publications appeared. No periods and dates. A question about plans in the USA. A question about having a valid American visa. Then she typed for a long time, after which she said, verbatim: “Everything looks more than good, we will continue processing your visa, wait for further notifications to your email.”
At first we thought we were sent to administrative processing, since we didn’t hear: “Your visa is approved.”
On 18 June the status changed from administrative processing to Issued, and we exhaled.
On 20 June the status changed again in the system to “administrative processing”.
On 23 June the status in the system returned to “issued”.
On 24 June in the afternoon we picked up the passports at the DHL Palladium World Shopping point.
A 2-year journey completed.
Sometimes it felt like it would never end 
Good luck to everyone who’s currently on this long road!
Main insight
“It’s important to thoroughly prepare documents, especially medical ones, and be ready for possible status changes during the visa processing.”
ANDREI (@And_Ian)
22 July 2024
Filing (Premium)
2 August 2024
RFE received
30 October 2024
Approval
17 June 2025
Interview in Bangkok
18 June 2025
Status changed to Issued
20 June 2025
Status changed to Administrative Processing
23 June 2025
Status returned to Issued
24 June 2025
Passports received
Author of the story
ANDREI (@And_Ian), from the chat @talentvisahelp. Original message in the chat.
Useful resources
All information about O-1 / EB-1A / EB-2 NIW
More success stories and denials: channel @o1eb1