Organize Your Evidence

These evidence documents help us create educational materials that demonstrate how to address the three prongs of NIW requirements: Advanced Degree or Exceptional Ability (your academic credentials, publications, and professional achievements), Substantial Merit and National Importance (your research contributions, citations, and impact in your field), and Well-Positioned to Advance the Proposed Endeavor (your ongoing work, recommendations, and track record of success).

Guidelines: Please upload your supporting documents in PDF format. Each section accepts only one PDF file. If you have multiple items for one evidence type (for example, multiple publications), please combine them all into a single PDF. Each page in a PDF should be in A4 size for best compatibility with Overleaf.

1. Academic Research

Upload a screenshot of your Google Scholar profile page. Please convert the screenshot to PDF format (A4 size) for best compatibility. If the screenshot is not in A4 size, you can open it in Mac Preview and use "Print to PDF" to convert it to A4 size.

Combine all thank you letters/emails from journal/conference reviews into one PDF. Include all review acknowledgments in a single document.

Combine the first two pages (e.g., title page, abstract page, and/or introduction page) of all your publications into one PDF. Include all publications in a single document.

Combine screenshots or information pages of all journals/conferences where you published. If using screenshots, ensure each page is A4 size in PDF format. Include all publication venues in one PDF.

Select several important papers that cite your work. For each paper, include the title page and the page(s) showing the citation. Combine all into one PDF. Better to highlight the parts citing your work using highlights or markers for the convenience of USCIS officer review.

Upload evidence of ongoing research or submitted papers. This can include ArXiv submissions, submission portal screenshots, or submission confirmation emails. Convert all to PDF format (A4 size) and combine into one document.

2. Academic Documents

Combine all degree certificates (Bachelor's, Master's, PhD, etc.) into one PDF.

Combine all academic transcripts into one PDF.

Upload the title page and first page of your dissertation in PDF format.

3. Awards, Memberships & Media Coverage

Combine all award certificates or documents into one PDF. Include all awards in a single document.

Combine all membership certificates or documents (professional societies, organizations, etc.) into one PDF.

Combine all media coverage articles, news mentions, or press releases into one PDF. Include all media coverage in a single document.

4. Recommendation Letters

Combine all recommendation letters into one PDF. Include all letters from recommenders in a single document.

5. Identity Documents Optional

This section is optional. You can add these sensitive documents directly to Overleaf later if you prefer.

Combine I-20, I-94, visa page, and passport main page into one PDF. This section is optional - you can add these documents to Overleaf directly if preferred.

6. Additional Evidence

If you have other evidence documents that don't fit into the categories above, you can upload them here. Combine multiple documents into one PDF file.

Upload any other supporting documents that demonstrate your qualifications for NIW. Combine all additional evidence into one PDF file.