“Do Not Cut Corners”: Victoria Kuzmina on Extraordinary Ability Cases in a Harder Year
21st September 2025
Date
Interviewee
Victoria Kuzmina
From Latvia to Los Angeles, California: Victoria Kuzmina’s Playbook for Extraordinary Ability Cases
An immigrant’s path to practicing immigration law
Victoria Kuzmina still remembers what it felt like to arrive in the United States from Latvia at the end of high school. She had her sights set on medicine, enrolling at the University of Arizona with plans for medical school. But a single elective law class altered everything. “I just fell in love,” she recalls. “I knew I wanted to go to law school and I did everything in my power to accomplish that.”
The pivot was only the first of many intentional choices. Law offered prestige and rigor, but Kuzmina quickly saw its limits. Traditional practice meant less freedom — set offices, state-specific licensing, narrow control over the type of work. She wanted something broader: the ability to choose her clients, to travel, to design a life. Immigration law gave her that. As federal practice, it offered flexibility across state lines. As an immigrant herself, it offered resonance. “I felt like I could really relate to my clients and what they go through. I had a lot of empathy for them.”
When she launched her own practice, fortune met preparation. Early clients trusted her with EB-1A extraordinary ability petitions — among the most complex filings in U.S. immigration. She won. Those victories established her niche in business immigration, especially extraordinary ability green cards and O-1 visas for entrepreneurs and founders. “I hit the ground running,” she says. “And the rest is history.”
A changing environment for extraordinary ability visas
Kuzmina is quick to point out that her perspective is shaped by her clientele: business leaders, engineers, entrepreneurs transitioning their companies to the U.S. market. For years, strong profiles with well-documented achievements cleared smoothly. 2025 has felt different. “There is a change in the environment where a lot more scrutiny is applied to applicants,” she observes. Approvals are still coming, but officers are probing more, requiring tighter evidence and cleaner narratives.
She suspects broader policy winds at play — a tilt toward “Hire American, Buy American.” Whether temporary or lasting, the effect is real: immigration law is less forgiving of ambiguity.
Her advice: know the formula. EB-1A adjudication is governed by criteria. Align directly to them. Do not expect an officer to connect dots you didn’t connect yourself. “If they don’t see how the elements of a requirement are easily met, they will push back,” she warns.
The Ukrainian engineer who kept building
One story anchors her belief in consistency. A Ukrainian software engineer came to her as war was breaking out. His profile was promising, but incomplete. Together, they mapped a strategy — memberships, recognition, leadership roles — and worked over a year to execute it.
“At the start, he doubted himself,” Kuzmina recalls. “But he got accepted into prestigious organizations. He accomplished a lot with his company. And when we applied for his EB-1A, it was approved.”
The case illustrates her philosophy: attorney and client must build together, but the effort belongs to the client. “I believed in him, but ultimately it is up to the client. I can’t make achievements for them.” The outcome — safety in the U.S., a career protected, a family reunited — underscored the stakes.
The three pillars of readiness
For newcomers, Kuzmina returns to three principles:
Get the right advice. “There’s so much information online, but not all of it is helpful. Start with the USCIS Policy Manual. It breaks it down better than anywhere else.” The danger is wasting years chasing shortcuts or bad strategies.
Stay consistent. Progress happens when clients keep moving, not when they sprint for three months and stop for four. “It’s always harder to restart after a big break,” she notes.
Be realistic. Even strong cases face RFEs or denials. Officers vary in training, perspective, and discretion. Clients must expect uncertainty and plan to keep fighting.
Burnout and balance in the profession
Behind the client stories, Kuzmina sees strain in her profession. “Immigration attorneys this year feel the burnout. It feels like we’ve been swimming against the current,” she admits. Colleagues talk about reducing fees, offering discounts, and running practices that resemble nonprofits. The emotional toll is high, especially in asylum and removal defense.
Her solution is boundaries. “You can’t give from an empty cup,” she says. She refuses to require her team to work weekends or answer late-night emails. The same applies to her. Long days happen, but unchecked, they drain the clarity clients depend on. “Lawyers are people too. You have to be strong and healthy to keep doing a good job.”
On AI, shortcuts, and the future of law
Kuzmina is enthusiastic about artificial intelligence — with caveats. She uses it to dictate faster emails and summarize dense research. It saves time and sharpens clarity. “Before, an email might take me 20 minutes. Now it takes me three.”
But she draws a line between assistance and substitution. “It doesn’t replace legal writing, but it can improve certain things.” Case management platforms with AI are evolving but not yet at a level to transform complex drafting. The future, she predicts, will accelerate quickly. “If in two years AI has reached this level, I can’t fathom what ten years will bring.”
Her caution echoes her immigration advice: don’t cut corners. Buying press, stacking memberships, or relying on AI to “fake” achievements will not survive scrutiny. Officers are smart. They see patterns. Authentic work, documented carefully, is the only path.
What she would change in U.S. immigration
If given a magic wand, Kuzmina would reform consistency. She sees too much discretion in the hands of officers and too little uniformity in outcomes. Better training, more time per case, and clearer policy adherence would help. “Immigration will always have a human factor, but we need more consistent adjudication patterns so outcomes aren’t so unpredictable.”
Despite the pressures, Kuzmina ends with optimism. The United States remains an attractive destination for talent, and extraordinary ability visas remain possible for those who qualify. “The opportunities are there,” she insists. “Don’t let the challenge discourage you. Nothing worth doing is easy. Move forward.”
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