A free, open project. Get the US talent visa on your own, free, with no middlemen.
Why
US talent visas on your own and for free
Honest step-by-step checklists and tools to prepare a US talent-visa petition. No middlemen. Pick your visa below and start now.
Real examples from the library
Real petitions, forms and templates from community materials, open right on the site.
Your visa roadmaps
Free and no signup. Pick your visa and go step by step.
NVC EB-1 visa roadmap
From an approved petition to a Green Card, step by step
The consular path after your EB-1 petition is approved: NVC fees and forms, the civil-documents package, document qualification (DQ), the medical exam and consulate interview, the visa, the port of entry, and the USCIS immigrant fee that triggers your Green Card and SSN.
Knowledge base
Articles on US talent visas: visa types, criteria, portfolio, petition, RFE, interview.
All tools on one page
Checklists, tools, the knowledge base, real data and the community - grouped by stage of the journey.
All tools (22)
The full set of free calculators and helpers: readiness, budget, documents, evidence organizer, RFE check and more.
Three steps to a ready packet
Free and no signup - everything saves in your browser.
Pick your visa and checklist
O-1, EB-1 or EB-2 NIW. A step-by-step plan with progress, documents and real examples.
Build evidence with the tools
Exhibit organizer, media checker, recommendation letters, RFE pre-checks - free, in a click.
Assemble and check the packet
Build the petition packet, check forms and readiness. Print it and file yourself.
Why pay thousands when the method is open
Talent-visa prep through agencies often runs into thousands of dollars. Here the whole method, checklists and tools are open and free.
Via a middleman or blind
- Thousands of dollars for petition prep
- Months learning the requirements from scratch
- Easy to miss a criterion or botch the formatting
- Paywalled templates and databases
- No idea where similar cases stumble
Expensive, slow and blind
With this project
- Completely free - now and later, no charge ever
- Step-by-step checklists for your visa: O-1, EB-1, EB-2 NIW
- 3000+ real AAO decisions: see what counts and what gets denied
- Ready-made tools: exhibit formatting, RFE pre-check, packet assembly
- Nothing to register or buy - just open it and go
Talent visas: the essentials
Moving to the US: visas for Russians
What happens after you file
Timelines, the consular stage, checks - and what to do when something goes wrong.
Built by the community
The knowledge belongs to everyone on this path
Checklists, tools and the knowledge base are open and free. The community built them - take them, share them, add to them. No middlemen, no paywall.
Real people. Real feedback.
Real voices from the community chats about preparing the petition yourself.
Depends on what awards and what wins. If it's a city championship, they won't even count it. Ideally it should be in-person, with photos of you with the awards. And if media write about it, that's just great. But 2 years is too little for genuine sustained national acclaim. You need at least three.
Iliya · from community chatsTry: Check awards & journalsAnd in a nutshell - ideally the championship/competition should have been running for several years, so that among the winners and on the jury there are renowned figures from the profession from past years. Plus media coverage of the event, the rules of the competition, a website with the jury lineup and the criteria, where past winners are listed. If all of that exists - go ahead and take part, as a nominee or a judge. If it's just an Instagram page for the championship - there's no point.
Dana · from community chatsTry: Check awards & journalsThe award has to be national or international level, everything else is pointless, plus you have to prove that it's an important competition in your field.
Dima · from community chatsTry: Check awards & journalsThe award has to be national or international. And you have to be the winner among hundreds of participants. The best of the best. A certificate for a presentation is better suited to the contribution criterion, if you include that conference there.
community member · from community chatsTry: Check awards & journalsThe criterion clearly says the award must be given to you personally. A student's award is not the coach's award. It's his personal award as an athlete. You can add all of this to the description. And spell out how hard it is to train a champion and what a talented coach you are.
community member · from community chatsTry: Check awards & journalsIf you can prove this award is national level, there should be some kind of confirmation that it's run not just by a university but by the ministry of education and that the whole country takes part. And even better, other countries too. You need to present it as if you won your country's championship in your field.
Anatoliy · from community chatsTry: Check awards & journals
Personal opinions of community members, not legal advice.
Document library
Free access to the whole files database
Real petitions, form-filling examples and community templates. 4 files a day free after sign-in.
- Real documents, not theory
- Real samples, anonymized
Hey, I'm Alina 👋
I walked this path myself - no agents, no money for lawyers
I am a developer. When I was putting my petition together, I had no connections and no budget for expensive lawyers - just the will to figure it out.
I read hundreds of pages of USCIS requirements, went through real approvals and denials, and built checklists, templates and checks. And I realised something simple: almost all of it you can do yourself, for free, if you know the order of the steps.
This project is everything that helped me, gathered in one place and open to everyone. No payment, no signup. Take it and use it.
I did it, and so can you
The short answers
Is it really free?
Yes. Every checklist, tool and article is free and will stay that way. We charge nothing and sell nothing. The server is paid for out of pocket; supporting it is voluntary.
Do I need to sign up?
No. Checklists, tools and articles open instantly, with no account. Sign-in is only for the AI-powered tools, so they are not abused - each AI call costs money.
Is it safe? Where is my data stored?
Yes. We never ask for your documents and process no payments. Everything you enter stays only in your browser by default. If you sign in, you can sync your progress across devices - but that is your choice.
Who runs this, and is it affiliated with USCIS?
It is an independent community project: assembled by the community, with Alina Kanametova as one of its contributors. It is not affiliated with USCIS or any US government agency and is not an official source. Always confirm steps on uscis.gov.
Does it replace a lawyer?
No, this is not legal advice and creates no attorney-client relationship. But many people do it themselves. And if you hire a lawyer or a paralegal, you will understand the process and not overpay for the basics.
Where do the real AAO decisions come from?
They are real anonymized decisions from the USCIS appeals office (AAO). They show which evidence counts and what most often gets denied. You can search and filter them in the appeals database on the site.
What is inside
Explore the features
Tools
Readiness, budget, evidence organizer, RFE pre-check
AAO decisions
3000+ real decisions: see why cases get denied
Library
Forms, templates and real document samples
Specialists
Who helps with what in a case
Chat ratings
Talent-visa communities matched to you
Reviews
Verified reviews of lawyers and services
Why you can trust this
No paywall, no signup, no upsell. Built openly from real community experience.
Free, always
Every checklist, tool and article - at no cost.
No signup
Everything opens instantly; your progress stays in your browser.
111+ articles
A full knowledge base, sourced and kept current.
Open project
Built in the open so anyone can check and improve it.
Doing it yourself vs a middleman
Talent-visa prep through agencies often runs into thousands of dollars. Here it is free - see the real USCIS fees and what is actually required.
Estimate the real costHonest answers
Is it really free?
Yes. Every checklist, tool and article is free and will stay that way. The project is non-commercial: we charge nothing and sell no services.
Do I need to sign up?
No. Checklists, tools and articles are available immediately, without an account. Sign-in is only for the AI-powered tools, so they are not abused - the server is paid for out of pocket.
Is it legal and safe?
Yes. This is reference material based on public USCIS requirements and real community experience. We never ask for your documents or process payments.
Does it replace a lawyer?
No, this is not legal advice. But many people do it themselves. And if you do hire an attorney, you will understand the process and not overpay for the basics.
From the community
Invest in critical role if you are at a recognizable company - it is often the most reliable criterion, especially if you are below director level.
For engineers a strong angle is impact on a very popular product: attach your commits, the product description and its reach, and pair it with critical role and salary.