O-1

O-1 Extension (Visa Petition for Alien with Extraordinary Ability): This is the case of an old client, a professional athlete. Three years ago we won him the first O-1 visa after a nationally prominent law firm failed to do so. During the renewing process, we carefully studied his career activities in the past three years and worked out a petition that fully expressed the games he has participated and his outstanding performance, and the case was approved in less a month without premium processing.

Replacement of I-94 for an O-1. Client is a professional athlete with a valid O-1 visa (for Alien with Extraordinary Ability), filed by our office 2 years ago. Unfortunately, our client ruined his I-94, visa and entire passport by mistake. Our office timely filed an I-102 for a new I-94 of his O-1 status and the filing was approved in less than 2 months.

EB11: Alien of extraordinary ability immigrant visa petition: Chinese national, newly graduated from her BA degree, the alien is an extremely young but highly accomplished musician. Our office made an extensive preparation of the case and filed the initial petition to CIS in May, 2007. We then filed a request to expedite the case in June 2007, right before CIS stopped accepting expedited processing for I-140 petition. However, CIS responded to our request with a lengthy, detailed and almost impossible request for more evidence. After a close study of the content of RFE letter, and of all other affecting factors at the time, especially CIS' workload on all premium processing cases, we decided to take our time and work out all the possible answers to their questions, instead of rushing for the answers and arguing for all the points already made in the initial filing and all the evidence already submitted with the initial filing. We mailed our response to CIS on September 20, 2007 and the case was approved in 12 days.

Our office filed an O-1 visa extension for a Medical Doctor/researcher in June 2007 and was approved in September 2007, with regular processing time.

O-1 Extension with premium processing for medical doctor: Guatemala national filed to Vermont Service Center on July 12, 2007 and was approved on July 15, 2007.

The fourth O-1 extension approval has just been granted by USCIS to our Guatemala client who works as a professor for a university. We have extended his O-1 status annually since 2004 and each time it has been granted without difficulty. We are currently working on getting his J-1 waiver and his permanent residence as well.

I-129 O-1 with request for premium processing for our client who is an Italian citizen, working as both clinical cardiologist & researcher. Case filed with California service center on May 7, 2007 and was approved on May 16, 2007.

Our client was a classical musician and recent college graduate facing an expiring OPT and time-critical job offer. An H-1B was out of the question, since the quota has been closed for the year. After a thorough review of the client’s C.V., our office moved to file an O-1 visa petition classifying the client as an Alien of Extraordinary Ability based on his music background. We filed with premium processing on October 3, 2005, and the Service responded with a faxed Request for Evidence (RFE) on October 13, 2005. Knowing that the client did not have much time, we quickly but carefully compiled a response. Though the client was only a recent graduate from a music conservatory, our office was able to focus on his talent, the competitiveness of the field of classical music and his potential in contributing to the future of classical music. We won a quick approval of the O-1 visa petition on November 14, 2005.

The client retained our office for filing an O-1 visa petition for working in the United States. Although the client was an experienced researcher with multiple degrees, attaining an O-1 visa for the first time is usually a somewhat difficult process. Furthermore, the client’s case was under the jurisdiction of the Texas Service Center, which we knew from experience was something of a tossup. We filed the application on December 17, 2004, and as expected received a Request for Evidence on March 9, 2005. We then took our time to carefully deal with each of the Service’s points, emphasizing that the client’s years of experience and accomplishments clearly pointed to eligibility for the O-1. We filed our reply to the RFE on April 18, 2005 with our own request to expedite processing. The Texas Service Center soon granted approval on April 26, 2005.

The client retained our office after failing to secure an O-1 Visa Petition through another law firm. As an excellent professional squash player and coach from Canada, our client sought to bring his sports expertise to the United States. Our office submitted a brief to the Nebraska Service Center of the INS, arguing that our client was clearly an O-1 alien of extraordinary ability in athletics. Since gaining O-1 approval requires in part that the petitioner meet at least three criteria, we asserted that our client met six criteria. We pointed out that our client was among the top 10 squash players in Canada and was a world ranked squash player. We also noted that our client had received sponsorship from popular sports brands such as Wilson, and that our client was actively engaged in training up and coming squash players. The client’s application consisting of an I-129 (Petition for Nonimmigrant Worker), I-129 O-1, and I-907 (Request for Premium Processing) was submitted to INS on February 17, 2005. Thanks to the premium processing, the INS swiftly replied with a letter of approval for our client’s O-1 application on March 22, 2005.

Our client, a Japanese national, is a physician who applied for an O-1 visa. He had two papers published in the U.S. and three in Japan, along with four conference presentations. Despite the relatively low number of publications and presentations, along with the fact that he does not hold a critical position within his company, our office was able to get his visa approved in one month.