Your company has a story. The petition needs yours.
Investors judge the company. USCIS judges the person. visaworker.ai helps you pull your individual contribution out of the cap table, the press coverage and the traction charts, and turn it into a structured draft you can review with independent counsel.
- The hard part
- You versus the company.
- What we do
- Evidence into a draft.
- What we are not
- Not a law firm.
Company milestones only help when your role in them is documented.
Funding, press, product and leadership, mapped to criteria.
Prepare with confidence. Review with counsel you choose.
Separate what you did from
what the company did.
A common challenge is showing the applicant's contribution alongside the company's achievements. A funding round, a revenue number or a TechCrunch article proves the company matters. The petition still has to show why you, specifically, matter to that outcome.
Attribute, do not summarise.
For every company achievement, the draft should name your decision, your design, your deal or your hire that produced it. Board decks, investor updates and internal memos are often the best source for this.
Funding is a signal, not a criterion.
Investment can support claims about the significance of your work and your critical role, but the memo has to explain why sophisticated investors backed you, not just how much they wrote.
Press about the company is not press about you.
Coverage counts most when it discusses you and your work by name. An article that mentions the company in passing is context, not a published-material exhibit.
Titles are weak; scope is strong.
CEO or CTO on its own proves little. Org charts, headcount you managed, budgets you owned and decisions that were yours to make are what turn a title into a critical role.
Evidence worth collecting first.
You do not need all of this to start. Paste what you have; the agent tells you where the gaps are and which letters or documents would close them.
Traction and funding
Numbers that show the company is real, with a paper trail that ties them to your work.
- Term sheets or closing announcements and the lead investors involved
- Revenue, user or customer growth with dates, plus what you personally drove
- Accelerator or grant acceptance letters and selection rates if published
- Investor references that explain why they backed you
Press and recognition
Coverage that names you and describes your work, from outlets a reader would recognise.
- Feature articles or interviews about you, not only the company
- Founder lists, awards or competitions with clear selection criteria
- Podcast, conference or panel invitations with the organiser's reach
- Circulation or audience figures for each outlet
Product and original contribution
What you built or invented, and evidence that others adopted or copied it.
- Product launches you led, with adoption data and customer names you can disclose
- Patents, technical architecture documents or product specs you authored
- Letters from customers or partners describing the impact on their work
- Evidence that competitors or the industry followed your approach
Leadership and critical role
Proof that the organisation is distinguished and that your role in it was essential.
- Org charts, headcount and budget under your direct responsibility
- Board or investor letters confirming your decision-making authority
- Key hires, partnerships or contracts you personally closed
- Evidence of the company's reputation: rankings, notable customers, valuation
What the agent does with what you paste.
Illustrative example. A technical co-founder of a B2B software company that raised a seed round, was covered in two trade publications, and shipped a product now used by several enterprise customers.
- Ex. 1Link to the funding announcement naming the lead investor
- Ex. 2PDF of a trade-press interview with the founder about the product
- Ex. 3Internal architecture document showing the founder designed the core system
- Ex. 4Signed letter from an enterprise customer describing measurable impact
The petitioner served as co-founder and chief technology officer of [Company], where they were responsible for the architecture of the core platform described in Exhibit 12 and for a team of nine engineers (Exhibit 14, organisational chart). The company's seed financing, led by [Investor] (Exhibit 3), followed the launch of that platform. [Customer] states in Exhibit 18 that the system reduced its processing time by roughly forty percent, and attributes the design decisions behind it to the petitioner.
This is a fictional, shortened illustration of how the agent ties claims to exhibits. It is not a real client, not a complete criterion, and says nothing about whether any petition would be approved.
From a call to a compiled packet.
The same open-source workspace every applicant uses. Nothing here is specific to your profession except the evidence you bring.
- 01
Free strategy call
Talk through your background and timing. We discuss which routes are worth exploring. Not legal advice.
- 02
Paste links, upload files
Articles, profiles, patents, letters and PDFs are captured as exhibits and numbered automatically.
- 03
Agent drafts each criterion
The agent interviews you, ties every claim to an exhibit, and writes the petition section by section.
- 04
Compile the packet
One PDF with cover, table of contents, petition letter and exhibits, ready for review.
- 05
Review with counsel
Prepare with confidence, then share the workspace with a partner lawyer at negotiated partner rates or your own attorney. You keep ownership.
Connect your own AI key and use the full workspace.
We provide the AI. Drafting, revisions and a compiled PDF for one petition.
Government filing fees and any attorney fees are separate and paid by you directly.
Three categories, no shortcuts.
Explore your options. These are the categories the workspace drafts for. Feedback from the strategy call and the agent is informational, not a legal determination or a guarantee of qualification; that judgement is for you and your attorney.
Founders often ask whether their own company can petition for them. A separate legal entity owned by the founder may act as petitioner, and an agent structure is another option; the specific petitioning and work arrangements should be assessed by independent counsel. O-1A is a temporary work classification. It has to be filed by a U.S. employer or an agent acting as petitioner; you cannot file it for yourself. Whether an agent structure fits your situation is a question for your attorney.
O-1A lawyers in our directorySource: USCIS: O-1 Individuals with Extraordinary Ability or AchievementExplored by founders with a longer track record: sustained press, recognised awards, judging or original contributions with industry-wide effect. EB-1A is a permanent-residence category that can be self-petitioned. USCIS applies a two-step review: meeting criteria first, then a final merits determination about sustained acclaim. Meeting three criteria on paper does not decide the outcome.
EB-1A lawyers in our directorySource: USCIS: Employment-Based Immigration, First Preference EB-1Often discussed for founders whose venture addresses a problem with national importance, such as infrastructure, health, energy or security, and who can show they are well positioned to keep advancing it. EB-2 NIW is a permanent-residence category that can be self-petitioned. You first have to qualify for EB-2 through an advanced degree or exceptional ability; the waiver itself is then judged under the three-prong Dhanasar framework: substantial merit and national importance, being well positioned to advance the work, and why waiving the job offer and labor certification benefits the United States.
EB-2 NIW lawyers in our directorySource: USCIS: Employment-Based Immigration, Second Preference EB-2Prepare the draft first. Then bring in counsel.
Founder cases have questions that only a lawyer can answer: who the petitioner should be, how ownership affects an O-1A, whether the timing fits your runway. Arriving with a structured draft and organised exhibits makes that conversation faster and more useful, and independent partner lawyers in our directory review and file prepared drafts at negotiated partner rates. You can also bring your own lawyer.
Browse the lawyer directoryEvery claim in the draft is tied to a numbered exhibit, so an attorney can check the support in minutes
Partner attorneys in our directory review and file at negotiated partner rates; you can also bring your own lawyer
Attorney fees and government filing fees are separate from the visaworker.ai price
Questions founders ask us.
Can my own startup be the petitioner for an O-1A?
Sometimes, but not automatically. USCIS looks at whether there is a real employer-employee relationship, which is harder to show when you own most of the company. Some founders use an agent as petitioner instead. This is a legal structuring question for your attorney; visaworker.ai does not advise on it, but the draft you prepare here works with either structure.
We raised money but have little revenue. Is that a problem?
Funding is one type of evidence, not a requirement. What matters is what the evidence shows about you: why investors backed you, what you built, who adopted it, and what independent people say about your work. The agent helps you document that trail whether the company is pre-revenue or profitable.
Most of the press is about the company, not me. Does it count?
It can serve as context for the company's significance, but published material about you usually needs to discuss you and your work by name. The workspace flags which articles do that and which do not, so you can decide where to seek further coverage or letters.
How do I prove a critical role when I am one of three co-founders?
By scope, not title. Documents showing the team you led, the budget you controlled, the product or deals you owned, and letters from co-founders, board members or investors describing your specific responsibilities all help. The agent asks for these when drafting the critical role section.
What does visaworker.ai cost for a founder?
You can start free by connecting your own AI key, or unlock one case for a flat $249 where we provide the AI. That covers drafting, revisions and a compiled PDF. Government filing fees and any attorney fees are separate and paid by you directly.
Does visaworker.ai tell me if I qualify?
The strategy call and AI agent help you explore potential routes and organize the evidence behind your profile. This feedback is informational, not a legal determination or guarantee of qualification. You can work with an independent immigration attorney to evaluate your options and decide whether to file.
Start with what you have. The draft shows the gaps.
Free to start. No card required. Not legal advice.