O1B VISA ORGANIZATIONS
I. Break of The Law
This criterion is met if the applicant has performed and will perform as a lead participant for organizations with a distinguished reputation. This law has (2) main parts.
Part One
- Applicant has performed
- As a lead
- For an organization
- With a distinguished reputation
Part Two
- Applicant will perform
- As a lead
- For an organization
- With a distinguished reputation
II. Meeting the Criteria
When deciding whether an applicant meets this criterion, it’s essential to consider the following information for any organizations or companies they have worked for in their field.
- Dates of Employment
- Job Title
- Company
Match-Ups
This tangible information matches up with the existing law in the following way.
Part One
- Applicant has performed = = >Dates of Employment
- As a lead = = > Job Title
- For an organization = = > Company
- With a distinguished reputation = = > Company
Part Two
- Applicant will perform = = > Dates of Employment
- As a lead = = > Job Title
- For an organization = = > Company
- With a distinguished reputation = = > Company
III. Proving it to USCIS
1. Date of Employment
[See Criteria 1 Events]
Law
This category proves match-up (1); the applicant has performed and will perform as a lead participant for organizations that have a distinguished reputation. This category also goes to the overall criteria of “being at the top of your field.”
What USCIS Is Looking For
In terms of the match-up (1), USCIS is looking to see performances in the past and performances events in the future.
What can ” performances ” mean can be helped by considering the similar category for O-1A Visas? In O-1A Visas, instead of “performed,” the word “employed” is used. USCIS has shown a willingness in cases of O-1B Visas to accept non-performance work for this criteria. So instead of “performed,” think of the requirements as “the applicant has worked and will work as a lead….”
In terms of “being at the top of your field,” USCIS officers are looking for people who have a long but steady incline toward success and are applying while at the very top. So, ideally, you would have several instances of employment at organizations, steadily getting more and more “distinguished,” with the most recent being in the past six months. But, in reality, that’s quite rare, and USCIS will usually take what they can get; how to Prove It, Just put the dates of the events in the application.
Example
Working for Google is impressive, but if you worked there 15 years ago and haven’t worked for a company of note since, that will not be looked upon positively by USCIS.
2. Job Title
[See Criteria 1 Events]
Law
This category proves match-up (2); the applicant has performed and will perform as a lead participant for organizations with a distinguished reputation.
What USCIS Is Looking For
Being a lead in a performance on stage is relatively simple, but it becomes more complicated for other professions.
Unfortunately, some job fields just don’t fit into this field that just doesn’t fit into this criteria. USCIS knows and has acknowledged this, and they answer that if your job doesn’t fit into specific criteria, you should probably try to work in all the others. Not very helpful.
How to Prove It
Sometimes a title will in and of itself show that a person is a lead. Other times, you have to dig a little bit further.
Any time someone has your job but is less senior, that’s a great thing to show USCIS.
Otherwise, explaining your duties and how they are critical to the organization will suffice.
Examples
[See Criteria 1 Events]
Using the tests we outlined above, let’s go through some examples.
Test 1: If your job title/ role was eliminated, would it work?
Romeo (in Romeo and Juliet) is the lead.
Nun #3 (in Romeo and Juliet) is not a lead.
The guitarist (in Band) is the lead.
The guitarist (# 124 in a large marching band) is not a lead.
Test 2: Are there people in the project who do the same thing as you but aren’t as senior?
Trumpet Player (1st chair) is a lead.
Trumpet Player (4th chair) is not a lead.
3. Organization Hosting Event
Law
This category proves match-up (3); the applicant has performed and will perform as a lead participant for organizations with a distinguished reputation.
What USCIS Is Looking For
[See Criteria 1 Events]
Distinguished Reputation appears to be a phrase that USCIS has invented and isn’t interested in explaining. It’s very vague, even for USCIS standards, and the way it’s applied to many different categories for different purposes makes its meaning even more confusing. All we know is that they consider organizations mentioned in major media and make a lot of money to have “distinguished reputations.”
How to Prove It
[See Criteria 1 Events]
Proving that an organization has a lot of press is the most straightforward check box for O-1B Visa applications. I use Lexis Nexis Media searches, but there are many comparable search engines that one could use. Once you pull up all the media on the organization, you want to focus on “major media.” Newspapers > Blogs, the higher the circulation, the better.
Proving that an organization has made money is a little bit trickier. One thing is showing how old it is. If an organization isn’t successful/ profitable, it will not last very long.
The longer the organization has been in business, the better. There are sometimes also reports that show the profit of an organization.
Examples
Coca-Cola is a very famous organization with a lot of press.
IV. Difficulty
Level of Difficulty
This criterion is a level 3 difficulty. Only about half of the applicants meet this criterion. The hardest part is proving that you were in an event and an actual “lead.”
Related Categories
Organizations’ criteria are tied closely to Events criteria. There is also a matching “Organizations” criteria for O-1A Visas.