About 40,000 EB-1 employment-based visas are made available every year by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). These visas are set aside for priority workers who wish to live and work in the United States along with his or her spouse and children who are unmarried and under the age of 21. EB-1 Visas are separated into three different categories. Each such category has its own rigorous eligibility and documentation requirements. Those categories follow:
- People who have extraordinary ability (EB-1A).
- Outstanding professors and researchers (EB-1B)
- Managers and executives of multinational business entities (EB-1C).
EB-1A Visas for Persons of Extraordinary Ability
The extraordinary ability requirement of the USCIS contemplates “extraordinary ability in the sciences, arts, education, business or athletics demonstrated by sustained national or international acclaim and whose achievements have been recognized in the field through extensive documentation.” EB-1 Visa applicants, don’t need to have a job waiting for them, and they don’t need a sponsor to petition themselves into the United States. They can file their petition on their own behalf. Extraordinary ability can be evidenced by at least three of following examples:
- Having received national or international prizes or awards for excellence.
- Membership in an association in his or her field that requires outstanding achievement of its members.
- Being the subject of published material in major professional or trade journals or other major media.
- Credible evidence of the foreign national’s significant contributions to his or her field.
- Credible evidence of his or her authorship of scholarly articles in professional or trade publications or other major media.
- Being a leader in a recognized organization.
- Credible evidence that his or her work has been displayed at artistic exhibitions or shows.
- Having served on a panel of judges in his or her field.
- Having earned significantly higher amounts of compensation than others in the same field.
- Having experienced commercial success in the performing arts.
EB-1B Visas for Outstanding Professors and Researchers
For purposes of providing evidence that a person is an outstanding professor or researcher and obtaining an EB1-B Visa, the employer must make the application filing with a Form-140 Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker. Credible evidence of two of the following six criteria must be submitted:
- Having received major prizes or awards for outstanding accomplishments.
- Membership in associations that require their members to show outstanding accomplishments.
- Material published in professional publications that has been written by others about the foreign national’s work in a particular academic field.
- Having participated on a panel of judges or individual as the judge of others in the same academic field or an allied academic field.
- Scientific scholarly research contributions to his or her field.
- Authorship of scholarly books or articles in scholarly journals with international circulation in the person’s field.
EB-1C Visas for Managers and Executives of Multinational Business Entities
A foreign entity might want to transfer a manager or executive to an affiliated U.S. business entity by offering him or her a full-time job. The U.S. entity must sponsor the manager or executive’s petition to live and work in the United States. The EB-1C is an immigrant petition, so the new U.S. employee, his or her spouse and unmarried children under 21 are allowed to seek permanent residency. The U.S. company must have done business in the United States for at least one year, and the manager or executive must have worked with the associated foreign company for one continuous year of the last three years. Certain qualifying relationships between the two companies exist. Managers who might qualify for an EB-1C Visa might be personnel or functions managers. An executive might be a person who directs management, establishes goals or policies and receives only general supervision or direction. The Form I-140 must be submitted by the employer on behalf of the manager or executor along with other detailed company information and documentation.
EB Visas are scrupulously reviewed. Each and every requirement requires full and complete compliance. Managers, executives and employers are all in need of quality professional assistance in applying for and the submission of EB Visas. The Central Valley immigration lawyers at Maison Law Immigration Lawyers can be invaluable to both an employer and a potential employee seeking to live and work in the United States. Contact us for a consultation and your questions regarding EB Visas. We want to see both your company and employees prosper here in America.
