britanya

hi guys,

if you saw my last post you know i'm about to begin an application for an o1 visa and that i'm quite nervous about it due to my last visa (it was not an o visa) which i'd had for a long time being unexpectedly denied.

For anyone who has an o1, or was denied one, i wonder if you could you answer a few of the following questions about your application:

- what is your 'excpetional' ability, and how long have yo been working in that field?
- were you mentioned in any press/ articles?
- did you have a job offer in the us?


i have 2 good job offers, but i have one big company who are very interested in me but reluctant to offer me a job until i'm there. which is understandable. i'd love to work with them but i won't be able to if they're not on my visa. and i understand the process to change employers on this visa is hard because you have to go through the whole application process again. so i've been told that what i can do is get an agent to represent me, and that if i get that job via the agent then i won't need to do the application all over again. my question is, does anybody know of any agents who represent designers, motion graphics or video editing - which is what i do? I've had a look and all i can see is that there are agents for actors only.

GeoffM

I had an EB1A which has similarities with O1 - it was in the field of railways and software. Software which I wrote was bought by my employer at the time and forms a large chunk of what signallers in the UK use for training in computer-based signalboxes even today. About 13 years I guess. No job offer (not required; self employed to this day).

Other websites had people claiming "you MUST have XX citations or you will NEVER get an EB1A!". I had two, three if you count a self-authored article in an industry journal. One RFE which was a bit pointless as the had the information already. Surprisingly enough I got it, after an interview in London which consisted of the officer firing random questions out of my petition, disappearing for several minutes, coming back and asking a couple more questions, and then told I was successful.

Just remember any evidence should be backed up with its own evidence - ie don't just show you were mentioned in a book, but show that the book has significance, and/or its author is renowned. For example, I had evidence that my software was in a book, that the book was written by a professor at a university, that that university is the only one in Europe offering rail courses, and that that professor was himself mentioned by rail industry experts from around the world.

Good luck.

lizzyq

When steveq was approved for his O-1 [2014] (and subsequent EB1[2017]) he had no published papers but a goodly quantity of letters of recommendation from others in his extremely niche field including those who use his designs and the international standards based thereon. There were a couple of academic papers mentioning the company he owned and instruments he had designed, but not his name specifically IIRC. The immigration attorney did an excellent job on that side of things.

aquatone

Hi Britanya,

I was not an O1 (L1A and now US citizen) but I have written several letters of recommendation for O1 visa recipients that (along with similar letters) resulted in successful outcomes. I know the quality of the recommendations from your peers can play an important part. How are you on that front? I probably work in a similar field (movie visual effects technology) though the lawyers I provided O1 references to were general practice immigration firms. However a good lawyer should be able to make a compelling case from a well rounded picture of your accomplishment if you are that outstanding. Having references with an Academy Award (or similar prestige) helps and I suspect you may be connected there. In a niche vertical like motion graphics and editing most people know each other by reputation and it should not be too hard to build the necessary support.

Chris

scrubbedexpat099

Not me but somebody I know

DJ 20 years plus

Yes

No

aquatone

No... Unless they are Paul Oakenfold, Sasha or of similar repute.

Noodler

I have worked in IT for 20 years and have worked in CTO and COO roles for the last 9.

I have lots of published articles and video interviews and presented at many large conferences.

I got letters from the CEO’s of 6 IT companies that are in the top 100 IT resellers in the U.K.

I had a job offer from a company in the US.

britanya

thanks geoff. i remember reading about your journey a while back, very inspirational. did you have any awards, or anybody else reading this? that's another question i'm up against right now. do you need awards for this visa? i have worked on many projects when i worked at certain agencies. those agencies were hired by the big studios (20th century fox, etc) to work on those projects. and many of those projects won or were nominated for awards. but my name isn't on those awards. the lawyer says the only way to use those is to get the awarding body to verify that i'm part of that award - how do i do that, or is that necessary?

britanya

thanks chris. i have people with a lot of accomplishments, although they are not designers like me. but i've worked with them within the creativty industry. for example: a digital editor of some of the most biggest magazines out there, an award winning producer from sony, a senior project manager who project managed the motion graphics of beyonce's last tour, not a list artists but artists who appeared at world renowed festivals and who have won awards, someone who has his own wikipedia page and is well known in the comic world with his work commissioned by the biggest tv stations. . do those sound good enough? they're not CEO's. the CEOS who i'm close with are not from the biggest or biggest known companies.

i'm also worried about my lack of awards right now. they are all indirect awards - with the awards being given to others

GeoffM

Not as such IIRC. Accolades maybe.

If you can get proof you were on the team that won an award then get it. Up to a certain point, more information is better than less.

Gscq

Hey
I recently got my O visa approved... Not sure if you got your questions answered already. But feel free to ask if you have any others

BenK91

I've asked my cousin to join the forum as he is based in San Francisco on an O-1. He's a senior level designer for a large video game company. Hopefully he joins and can assist in answering questions!

britanya

Thank you !

britanya

Thanks very much. Can I message you on here about a few things? I’m a bit concerned right now about the lawyer I’m working with and not sure if some of the documents and procedures that he is putting together are customary

Gscq

sure...