AI: Friend or Foe in your EB-1A Petition Journey?

Your lawyer says you’ll need to write a personal statement for your petition. There’s an outline provided, but when your entire career has been focused on technical writing, how on earth do you write something personal? 

So, you open ChatGPT, type in instructions for what you need to write, answer a couple of clarifying questions, and within seconds it produces a document filled with technical brilliance that clearly explains all the work you’ve done. Voilà! 

But…does it actually sound like you? Does it actually feel reflective of your story? Is it something only another expert in your field could understand?

The Problem

Here’s the good news: AI can absolutely help! It can help brainstorm ideas, clarify your thinking, save time, and organize complex material. Honestly, it’s an excellent starting point. Think about the natural writing process: Brainstorm (Generate Ideas) → Outline (Planning) → Draft (Writing) → Revise (Improving) → Edit (Correcting) → Publish (Sharing)

AI can help in each of those stages, especially in the brainstorming and outlining stages. But the problem comes when we lean too hard on it. That’s when your writing begins to sound too technical, too polished, and completely impersonal. It loses the purpose of a personal statement: human voice. 

When everything reads like it came out of an engineering manual, your story gets lost. And here’s the part many folks overlook: the audience is not a technical reviewer. The person reading your EB-1A petition isn’t an expert in your field. They are a USCIS officer whose job is to evaluate evidence. Their job is not to code, examine data models, and definitely not to analyze complex control systems. 

So, field-specific language? It’s not helpful. Sometimes it’s necessary to use, but use with caution and make sure it is explained easily enough that a 9-year old would understand it. When you rely too much on field-specific language, it does one thing: it alienates your reader. If you think you’re being clear, you’re probably not. 

Here’s where AI can actually be your friend again. Use it to test your clarity. Is the point you're making clear? Try prompts like: 

• “Explain this like you’re talking to a neighbor at a family barbecue.”

• “Rewrite this so it’s easy to follow for a non-technical reader.”

• “Make the text simpler to understand for someone not in this field or industry.”

AI can help you translate your thoughts into text, but if that text isn’t translated for your audience, you’ve missed the point. 

Knowing Your Audience

EB-1A writing itself is about clarity, credibility, and impact–it’s not a technical dissertation. So instead of writing like you’re explaining your work to a co-worker who’s deep in the same field, imagine you're talking to your neighbor or maybe a fellow parent from your child’s school. 

Define your items. Use analogies outside of your field. Identify the problem you’re solving, the outcome of solving it, and what would happen if it wasn’t solved. 

Think of your USCIS officer saying at the end of each accomplishment you list: “So what?”

Why does this matter to the United States? Why should the United States care? Why are you a benefit to the United States?

USCIS officers don’t need hear endless details about the technicalities of your field. They need to understand (and clearly see) your impact. 

Using AI as a Partner, Not a Crutch

So, how do you use AI the right way?

• Use it to assist you in the brainstorming process.

• Ask it to simplify or rephrase ideas for a layperson.

• Use it for editing clarity, not for drafting entire sections blindly.

If you let AI do all the writing, your lawyer, legal writer, and ultimately the USCIS officer will know. Your voice will sound detached, robotic, over-polished, and generic. In other words: not human. 

And yes, I get it. AI makes it easy to just say, “Do it for me.” Between your family, career, and the stress of this whole EB-1A process, you have more than enough on your plate. It’s human to want to take the easier route. But remember, AI is a helper, not the author. 

AI can be both friend and foe, depending on how consciously you use it. The best writing doesn’t just inform–it connects. 

AI can pour the foundation of your writing, helping it to be solid, factual, and structured. But you build the home–making it unique, personal, and full of your voice. 

P.S. You may be wondering: Did I use AI to help guide me while writing this blog? 

You betcha. 

*Please note: At our law firm, our cases are handcrafted. AI can’t match real legal expertise or insights from many years of working with clients and USCIS. We do use AI at times, especially to automate tedious tasks as part of building a petition, but we are the ones who produce our legal product. No confidential information is shared with third parties during the drafting process without the consent of clients. We always provide our clients with a comprehensive, professional, and tailor-made petition to obtain the best results for their individual case. 

We’d love to learn about you and see if we can help: Book a Consultation

This post is part 14 of a new 17-week series published every Wednesday. Each post is written by a different employee of Lisonbee Immigration Law about a immigration topic of their choosing. This post was written by legal writer Andrea Garns.