Evidence of Judging Work

Evidence that you have participated as a judge of the work of others in your field.

Video Guidance

Presented by Nicole Gunara, Principal Immigration Attorney at Manifest Law

Task Guidance

USCIS requires evidence that you have participated as a judge of the work of others in your field or a related field.

This can include formal judging roles as well as peer review activities.

  • Proof that you judged the event or served as a reviewer: such as invitation emails, confirmation of your role, or event programs listing you as a judge
  • Information about the event, journal, or conference and its prestige in the field
  • For peer reviews: the email asking you to review AND the email confirming you submitted your review
  • A letter confirming you were selected as a judge based on your expertise (if other objective evidence is limited)

  • Qualifying activities include: serving as a peer reviewer for academic journals or conferences, judging competitions or award panels, evaluating grant proposals, reviewing manuscripts for publication, serving on thesis or dissertation committees, or evaluating work submissions in a professional capacity.
  • Informal evaluations (such as giving casual feedback to a colleague) generally do NOT qualify.

Strong Examples
  • Invitation email from a top-tier journal asking you to peer review a submission, plus your confirmation of completed review.
Weak Examples
  • "I reviewed a colleague's presentation before they submitted it." (Informal feedback does not qualify.)

This evidence demonstrates your recognition as an expert whose opinion is valued in evaluating the work of others.