Self-petitioning from outside the US — what actually differs

Filed my EB-1A while living and working entirely outside the US, and want to share what genuinely differs from a domestic self-petition, since I had trouble finding much written specifically about the abroad-petitioner experience. The evidence-gathering itself wasn't fundamentally different — the same ten criteria, the same evidentiary standards, regardless of where you're currently living. What did differ: coordinating document authentication and translation logistics across time zones and, in my case, a different postal/document system than I was used to reading about in mostly US-centric advice. Reference letters from colleagues also abroad sometimes needed extra context explaining the standing of institutions or publications that might be less immediately familiar to a US-based reviewer. The other genuine difference: since I'd be doing consular processing rather than adjustment of status, I had to build my understanding of that specific path (see the other community post here on adjustment vs. consular processing) into my planning from day one, rather than assuming a single generic post-approval process.