Extraordinary Ability Visa
This type of immigrant employment visa is available to:
- those with extraordinary ability in the sciences, arts, education,
business or athletics
- outstanding professors and researchers
- select multinational
executives and managers
Extraordinary ability means "sustained national or international
acclaim" that is extensively documented. Only a "small percentage who have risen
to the very top of the field of endeavor" fall within this classification. Example:
Nobel Prize recipients. Applicants do not need a specific job offer so long
as they are entering the U.S. to continue work in the field of their extraordinary
ability. Unlike most immigrant visa seekers, they can file on their own, rather
than depending upon an employer to do so.
Outstanding professors and researchers are recognized
internationally for their academic achievements. An applicant must have at least
three years experience in academic teaching or research, and must enter the U.S.
in a teaching or research position at a university or other
institution of higher learning that has tenure or offers a chance at tenure. Alternatively, if the employer is a private company,
its department, division, or institute also must employ at least three full time
persons in research and have achieved documented accomplishments in an academic
field.
Evidence that the professor or researcher is recognized as outstanding in the academic
field is established by at least two of the following:
- Major prizes
or awards for outstanding achievement
- Membership in associations that require
outstanding achievements
- Published material in
professional publications by others about the applicant's
academic work
- Judge of the work of others in the same or an allied academic field
- Original scientific or scholarly
research contributions
- Authorship of scholarly books or articles in scholarly journals with international circulation.
No labor certification
is required, but the prospective employer must provide a
job offer and file a petition with the USCIS. Messing Law Offices can help as professional immigration
labor attorneys to determine if an applicant is qualified for this type of visa
and help make a persuasive presentation to the authorities in support of it.
A multinational manager or executive who transfers to
the United States is eligible for priority worker status if he or she has been employed
outside the United States for at least one year of the last three years preceding the petition
by a firm or corporation and seeks to continue service in a managerial
or executive capacity to that firm or organization. The prior employment must have
been in a managerial or executive capacity with the same
employer, an affiliate, or a subsidiary of the employer outside of the United States that has been doing business for at least one year. No labor certification is required for this classification, but the prospective employer must provide a
job offer and file a petition with the USCIS.
Messing Law Offices has extensive immigration lawyer expertise to help as immigration attorneys with EB-1 visa applications.
Contact Messing Law Offices if you need help with an employment
visa.
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