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International Recognized Athletes O-1 approved within Four Days of submissionJing Amy Feng, Attorney at LawCoach Gu was born into a table tennis family, he started practicing table tennis at the age of 3. But because there are a lot of table tennis athletes in China, even after Coach Gu’s vigorous practices, his best achievement was only a national team gold. After becoming an adult, there wasn’t any more opportunity to achieve good results in national competitions. There wasn’t any chance that he could represent China in international competitions either. Coach Gu retired early from an athletic career and went into areas of training partners and coaching, and then proceeded to accumulate some table tennis coaching experiences.The U.S. Table Tennis team isn’t really on par with China’s Table Tennis team right now, but the U.S. devotes a lot of time and effort into table tennis training. Every year, the U.S. sends selected athletes to train in China; Coach Gu got to know the United States Table Tennis Club. Because of his diligence, the U.S. Table Tennis Club hoped that he could come to the U.S. to train the athletes for long-term. When the U.S. Tennis Club commissioned Attorney Feng to handle his visa, according to Coach Gu’s background, Attorney Feng believed that approval for a P visa should be within grasp. But P visa only allows the holder to stay in the U.S. for a short period of time, and it’s unable to fully meet the requirement that Coach Gu’s work needs long-term stay. The other possibility is O-1 visa, but because Coach Gu’s background is relatively weak, it’s very difficult to prove that Coach Gu holds a leadership role and top-notch status in his field. Taking in account that the Club intends to apply for a Green Card for Coach Gu in the future, Attorney Feng decided to give O-1 visa a try. If the visa is approved, it would lay some foundation for the future EB-1A case.The legal requirement for O-1 visa is nearly identical to EB-1A. In this case, in addition to proving that Coach Gu has achieved great results as a table tennis athlete, Attorney Feng also needed to prove that Coach Gu made significantc contributions as a coach. Attorney Feng has a lot of experience in petitioning for athletes’ O-1 and EB-1A. Typically, if athletes continue pursuing their career as an athlete after coming to the United States, their achievements in athletic career before can be used as evidences in support of the petition. However because athletic careers are relatively short, most athletes will change to coaching instead. If one uses the coaching career as the occupation for petitioning, immigration officers usually don’t consider the athlete’s achievements as a basis for his/her coaching ability as they believe good athlete does not mean good coach. Once the athletic achievements are excluded, the case is often difficult in obtaining approval because of the lack of sufficient evidence on petitioner’s coaching experience. Therefore, how to reasonably and cleverly use the achievements of the athletes as a direct proof of the coach’s ability is crucial.In this petition, Attorney Feng successfully used the recommendation letters to convince the USCIS. Attorney Feng not only invited the coaches of United States to write a letter of recommendation as proof of Coach Gu’s ability, she also invited the U.S. National Team athletes who were Coach Gu’s students to prove that Coach Gu’s past athletic experiences is important in the training process. Attorney Feng also stressed the reputation of the U.S. Table Tennis Club and the achievement of giving great athletes to the U.S. National Team that employed Coach Gu as a proof that people with Coach Gu’s talents is desperately needed. In the past London Olympics, although the U.S. Table Tennis athletes weren’t able to win any metals, they did defeat Chinese seeded athletes, which set off the U.S. interests and confidences in table tennis. Attorney Feng used this to emphasize the importance of the introduction of outstanding coaches. The Director of the U.S. Table Tennis Association also wrote a letter of recommendation, asking for the approval of Coach Gu’s petition so that he could contribute to the process of propelling the U.S. into the next table tennis world championships and the Olympics. Under Attorney Feng’s careful planning and preparation, a case that otherwise would have no chance, was approved in four days. Please note that the case did not apply for premium processing.Each case’s success or failure on a certain extent have to do with luck, but Coach Gu’s case is a prime example that even with a weak background application, under the help of an experience lawyer, the success rate is still pretty high. O-1 and EB-1A are both very demanding, but with goal-oriented planning, strategically preparation of materials, and targeted packaging, it is very possible for the case to be approved. Therefore, we recommend that you consult with your lawyer as to the feasibility of applying for an O-1, NIW, or EB-1A. Coach Gu’s case illustrated that he not only benefited from the letters of recommendation and petitioner letter that the Attorney prepared, but he also benefited from the professional legal counsel’s advice.We encourage you to send your resume to us to assess the possibility of applying for O-1, NIW, or EB-1(a). An experienced lawyer in applications, especially for applications like Coach Gu’s with a weak background, is very important. In addition, an experience lawyer can greatly raise the successful rate of a case. As long as you are willing to try, there are always faster and better options for your applications.Attorney Jing Amy Feng is the Partner of FYZ Law Group LLP. (www.fyzlaw.com). She has extensive experience in working visa applications and employment/business immigration, with a proven record of many successful NIW, EB-1, H-1B, PERM cases. She may be reached at @fyzlaw.com">jfeng@fyzlaw.comFor the latest immigration updates and new please visit our website.Twitter @FYZLawGroupLLP