The visa for this category can be claimed by those who have achieved significant success in one of the fields in their homeland. This can be in art, science, education, business, sports, television, or cinematography. Moreover, the success must be substantial, at a national or international level. It is preferable that when applying for a visa in this category, you have worldwide recognition. The O-1 visa is most commonly obtained by well-known businessmen, university professors, doctors, scientists involved in serious research, high-level businesspeople, artists, inventors, and financiers.

This visa is classified as a temporary work visa. Therefore, you will be allowed to stay in the United States for exactly as long as your project lasts or as long as your presence is required there for the American company or international organization.

The visa is usually issued for a period of 3 years, but if your research or project is planned for a longer duration, the visa may be granted for the entire period of project implementation. However, as practice shows, in reality, visas are rarely extended for more than a year.

Let’s consider the main advantages of this visa compared to, for example, the H-1B visa.

Main Advantages of the O-1 Visa

There are four main, most important advantages:

For this visa category, there are no quotas at all. What does this mean? It means that the U.S. immigration service can issue as many of these visas as needed. There are no restrictions on visas of this category. In the case of the H-1B visa, there are rather strict quotas approved each year by the U.S. Congress.

Document submission is possible regardless of the time of year.

There is no strict attachment to only one employer or sponsoring agency. You can change them while residing in the United States. The visa is not canceled in this case. However, it is important that your area of activity remains the same for which the visa was obtained. When changing employers, it is necessary to:

1. Find a new employer.
2. Ask them to fill out form I-129 (in which they indicate the reasons for your hiring and further stay in the States).

The opportunity to engage in your favorite activity while receiving good financial rewards for it.

Now let’s focus on the package of documents you will need.

Main Basic Documents That Must Be Presented

A recommendation from your employer or the organization where you are engaged in professional activities. This can also be a professional union or managing organization. It can also be any other similar purpose document, such as a recommendation letter. It is better if this letter is obtained from a professional association. This document may also be referred to as a consultative opinion. If such an organization does not exist, you should contact the management of the relevant trade and industrial chamber.

A copy of your agreement with the employer from the USA. This agreement can be in either written or oral form. In the case of oral agreements, it is sufficient to outline the main conditions of the agreement in the document.

A petition filled out by a potential employer or agent located in the USA, which they submit to the Citizenship and Immigration Service. The petition must be filed no earlier than six months before the start of the potential cooperation or project launch. After its approval, you can apply for a visa directly at the U.S. consulate.

A list of services you will provide. This can be anything: project stages, scientific developments, business plans, etc. In short, you must specify what exactly you plan to do in the States.

Mandatory documents also include copies of all supporting documents that account for your extraordinary abilities and achievements. This list is quite lenient. You can provide the following documents (if available):

• Widely recognized national or international awards, such as the Nobel Prize, the Palme d'Or, the Grammy Award, etc.;
• Your membership in associations at the national and international levels, which can only be attained with outstanding achievements in your field;
• Your publications in professional journals;
• Participation in various events, such as contests, competitions as an expert, jury member, or judge;
• Your contribution to high-level scientific research and developments;
• A large number of sought-after and utilized inventions.
• Membership in an academy of sciences;
• Title of professor or honorary professor at universities;
• Presence of author articles related to your expert or professional activity in newspapers or magazines;
• Presence as a key specialist in a large company, organization, or institution (it is important that the company is world-renowned, or at least sufficiently well-known and recognized);
• Having gold medals at national, continental, world championships, or the Olympic Games, or major international championships;
• Awards, fees, prizes that are possible due to your professional activities. This can also include consistently high salaries.

Note that out of all the above, for the visa, it is enough to provide just 3 documents confirming your high qualification.

The O-1 visa is divided into three main subcategories: O-1A, O-1B, and O-1C.

The O-1A category includes achievements in the fields of:

• science,
• education,
• business,
• education,
• sports.

To obtain a visa of this category, you must provide at least 3 documents from this list.

These may include:

• Recognized national or international awards, such as the Nobel Prize;
• Your membership in associations at national and international levels, which can only be achieved with outstanding accomplishments in your field;
• Your publications in professional journals;
• Participation in various events such as competitions, serving as an expert, jury member, or judge;
• Your contributions to high-level scientific research and development;
• Your authored articles related to your expertise or professional activity in newspapers or magazines;
• Your presence as a key specialist in a large company, organization, or institution (it is important that the company is world-renowned, at least sufficiently known, and well-recognized);
• Any awards, fees, or prizes that result from your professional activities. This also includes a consistently high salary.

Category O-1B includes individuals who have made significant contributions to the arts.

And O-1C is for those who have achievements in film and television.

When discussing the list of evidence, it is worth noting that those with international, rather than national, awards have a better chance. However, having only national awards does not exclude the possibility of obtaining a visa of this category.

Thus, the list of documents may be as follows:

• Recognized national or international awards, such as the Palme d'Or, Grammy Award, etc.;
• Your membership in associations at national and international levels, which can only be achieved with outstanding accomplishments in your field;
• Your publications in professional journals;
• Participation in various events such as competitions, serving as an expert, jury member, or judge;
• Your contributions to high-level scientific research and development;
• Your authored articles related to your professional activity in newspapers or magazines;
• Your success has a significant commercial component, such as a film with a high rating and large box office revenue;
• Your activities receive high evaluations from experts;
• Any awards, fees, or prizes that result from your professional activities. This also includes a consistently high salary.

Why you might need help from professional immigration attorneys?

Based on our years of experience, independently collecting and preparing documents for obtaining a visa of this category and subsequently submitting them is often doomed to failure. Why does this happen? The fact is that immigration legislation in the United States, while quite transparent, is not always unambiguous. It may come down to the so-called "personal opinion" of visa officers. And despite the extensive list of documents, you may still receive a denial.

Let's consider the main difficulties you may encounter when submitting a petition and application for an O-1 visa.

Possible difficulties

The presence of fairly strict standards set by the immigration service for visa applicants with extraordinary abilities. All evidence and documents (and sometimes just the attachments can exceed 100 pages) fall on the applicant's shoulders. Of course, we will provide detailed consultations, but the document collection will have to be done personally by you.

Your achievements, despite their significance, extraordinariness, and the presence of 100% evidence, may have occurred quite some time ago. In this case, obtaining visa approval will be quite difficult, if not impossible.

If you plan to take a low position in the field where you have achieved significant accomplishments in your home country after arriving in the USA. For example, an individual with several hundred patents in the field of solid-state physics plans to work as a "simple teacher" at a college.

Your achievements are more "regional" or national rather than global, meaning you are not particularly known worldwide.

Your high earnings can only be considered high within the context of this country.

Membership only in organizations that one can join by paying money, regardless of achievements.

Publications only in regionally-focused journals.

Absence of reviews on your publications from your colleagues.

The company in the USA filing a petition for you does not even have its own office.

Despite the approval of the Citizenship and Immigration Services, the consulate may deny the O-1 visa. Sometimes it reaches almost comical situations: a denial of a visa can be based on an insufficient number of citations of you and your research on Google.

This is why even a "simple consultation" can guarantee success. It is important to gather as much evidence of the candidate's extraordinary abilities as possible. Sometimes a petition for this visa category can contain up to 100 pages of attachments. The immigration attorneys we work with will also assist in preparing and submitting an appeal if you have already received a denial for the O-1 visa.

There are also certain "subcategories" of the O-1 visa. This includes the O-2 and O-3 visas.

The O-2 visa is issued to those accompanying a person who has received an O-1 visa. But not just as a companion; rather, as an assistant who will also make a significant contribution, such as in the development of a scientific project, etc.

The O-3 visa is intended for close relatives, i.e., minor children (under 21 years old) and spouses. Unfortunately, having this visa does not allow the spouse to work legally in the USA.

In the case of a temporary exit from the USA, for example, for vacation, you will need the following list of documents.

Documents required upon departure from the States

For the O-1 visa:

• Original Form I-797 — Confirmation from USCIS approving the issuance of the O-1 visa, valid for the entire period after the planned trip;
• A copy of Form I-129 — Petition from the employer for the issuance of the O-1 visa, marked with approval;
• A valid stamp in the passport with the visa;
• A valid passport;
• A valid letter from the employer of the person with the O-1 visa, confirming employment.

For the O-3 visa:

• Original Form I-797 — Confirmation from USCIS approving the issuance of the O-3 visa, or a copy of Form I-797 of the spouse holding the O-1 visa, valid for the entire period after the planned trip;
• A valid stamp in the passport with the visa;
• A valid passport.

The visa for individuals with extraordinary abilities as a first step towards obtaining a green card

Many go to the USA on an O-1 visa and subsequently hope to obtain permanent residency, that is, a green card. The main requirements for obtaining a green card are generally similar to those for obtaining a visa; however, there are several significant differences:

• There is no need for a Labor Certification.
• There is no necessity to confirm the employer, i.e., to submit a petition specifically from an employer located in the USA. If necessary, the immigrant can prepare and submit a petition for themselves. However, the list of evidence remains the same, but it must be demonstrated that you plan to continue engaging in the same activity.
• When obtaining a green card, mere national recognition and the presence of three documents from the list confirming your professional achievements are no longer sufficient. It is necessary to provide achievements of international level and 7 confirmations of your professionalism.

It is worth adding that the potential immigrant should be among the top individuals on a national level.

Why you greatly need the help of an immigration attorney

If assistance from an attorney is simply necessary when applying for a visa, then it is mandatory when discussing a green card. It would be very unpleasant, after spending 3-4 years in the USA, making a significant contribution to the science, culture, art, and sports of the States, and intending to stay and continue your professional activities, to receive a denial for residency.

Both the visa and, even more so, the green card in this direction have a kind of "elitism" and are not issued to a particularly large number of people. That is why it is better to trust the collection and submission of documents to those who have significant experience in this matter.

This is generally logical and understandable since there are not many people capable of boasting serious accomplishments on a global scale. Overall, statistics show that the visa is granted to only 0.5% of all categories of applicants. And the green card is even less likely. A self-directed approach can result in the loss of both time and money.

How our company’s staff can assist you:

• They will assess your chances of obtaining both a visa and a green card in the future;
• They will assist with the preparation and collection of documents;
• They will thoroughly check the entire package of documents;
• They will help gather irrefutable evidence of your uniqueness;
• They will reduce the time for obtaining expert opinions;
• They will significantly shorten the time for you to obtain both a visa and a green card in the future.

If necessary, it is possible to apply for an expedited visa, the processing time for which is only 15 calendar days.

This article is purely informational. All recommendations and advice can only be provided by an American immigration attorney. We strongly recommend involving an immigration attorney at the earliest stages of obtaining an O visa.