Dr. Lee was one of our NIW clients. He received his Ph.D degree in a specialized, applied field of material science and engineering from a famous university in the summer of 2007 and his MS and BS from a prestigious university in China.

We concurrently filed the NIW and I-485 petitions of Dr. Lee in July 2007, when the visa numbers were available for almost all the categories of employment based immigration and all the petitioners around the world. But because there are too many petitions filed to the USCIS in the last summer, Dr. Lee’s NIW petition was still pending. But his non-immigration F-1 OPT status would expire soon in June 2008 and a new status was required for him to work in the U.S.

O-1 is a nonimmigrant status category for aliens of extraordinary ability in the sciences, arts, education, business, and athletics. This is an employment-related status that allows qualified aliens to live and work in the United States. Dr. Lee could apply either H-1B or O-1. When Dr. Lee contacted us for a new non-immigration visa on March 3, 2008, he was planning to work for a private small start-up company. And as Dr. Lee had never been granted any H-1B in the past six years, he was not qualified for H-1B quota exemption. As we all know that, the H-1B quota, including both the 65,000 standard quotas and 20,000 advanced degree quotas, for fiscal year 2008 ran out very soon in April 2007. USCIS had to run a random selection program to determine which petitions would be selected for the quota. Obviously, the similar condition will happen for the quotas of FY2009.

But different from H-1B, O-1 applicants are not subject to any cap or quota. Each case is considered on its individual merits; the total number of O-1 applicants that year does not affect one’s chance of approval. In addition, there is no maximum period of time a single person can hold an O-1 visa. It is theoretically possible to extend an O-1 visa indefinitely—as long as the employer needs the alien to perform his or her duties. Although the requirements of O-1 are a little bit higher, our attorney believed that Dr. Lee was qualified for the O-1 petition based on his education background and research achievements.

As soon as Dr. Lee signed the contract on March 7, 2008, the preparation work of his O-1 petition was started. One of our professional and experienced attorneys Victor Bush was the in charge attorney of this case. Dr. Lee had three peer-reviewed journals, five patents and membership of several professional organizations at that time. In order to make this petition strong, Attorney Bush spent substantive time and effort to formulate a convincing petition letter. Meanwhile, he worked together with Dr. Lee prepared seven recommendation letters from the researchers and experts of his field.

In the petition letter, Attorney Bush provided substantial details about Dr. Lee’s background and achievements and emphasized the creative contributions Dr. Lee had made to his research field. Attorney Bush illustrated the five patents Dr. Lee had made in this field and two of them had been applied to practical application. The attorney also emphasized that several highly qualified experts who had never met or worked personally with Dr. Lee were still aware of the major significance of Dr. Lee’s contribution.

After several weeks of hard work, Dr. Lee’s O-1 petition was filed with USCIS on June 2, 2008. And less than two weeks later, the USCIS approved Dr. Lee’s O-1 petition. Dr. Lee started to work in O-1 status since then.

In addition, as O-1 visa and EB-1(b) green card applications share some similar requirements, the recommendation letters submitted in the O-1 petition could be used in theEB-1(b) application. We simultaneously submitted an EB-1(b) I-140 petition for Dr. Lee. And now, the EB-1(b) petition is in pending as well. As visa numbers are available for applicants born in mainland China in EB-1(b) category, if Dr. Lee’s I-140 could be approved, his I-485 application won’t be delayed by the retrogression in visa bulletin as those of EB-2 or EB-3.

For more explanations and examples of O-1 cases, please click the following link:
No H-1B Approval? A Detailed Explanation of O-1 & Past Cases
（http://www.hooyou.com/news/news042208o1.html）

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For many people, an O-1 visa is a good alternative to an H-1B visa. O-1 is a nonimmigrant status category for aliens of extraordinary ability in the sciences, the arts, education, business, or athletics. It allows qualified aliens to live and work in the United States. Our experienced attorneys can help you apply for an O-1 visa. If you want to apply for an O-1 visa, email Attorney Jerry Zhang (info@hooyou.com ) with your questions, and he will get back to you quickly—typically within 24 hours.
Zhang & Associates, PC.
Houston ∙ New York ∙ Chicago ∙ Austin
Tel：1-800-230-7040, 713-771-8433
Email: @hooyou.com">info@hooyou.com
website：http://www.hooyou.com
*This article is based on the state of the law as of the posting date. It is the responsibility of the reader to verify that the law has not changed by consulting an attorney, although Zhang and Associates will make every effort to ensure that our articles are updated periodically.

*In order to protect our client’s privacy, all identifying information has been changed.