Everything STEM Researchers In The National Security Innovation Base Need To Know About The O-1A Visa Category

Table of Contents

• Why should I apply for O-1A classification?
• What is the O-1A?
• How can I improve my eligibility for the O-1A while I am a PhD candidate, on STEM OPT, or completing a STEM postdoc?
• As a Principal Investigator (PI) or mentor, how can I assist in strengthening my junior researchers’ O-1A petitions?
• How do I qualify for the O-1A?
• How can I build a strong portfolio of supporting evidence for an O-1A petition?
• Examples of materials submitted for a successful O-1A petition
• What additional documentation do I need to submit?
• USCIS Appendix: Satisfying the O-1A Evidentiary Requirements

Why should I apply for the O-1A classification?

• If you can tell the story about your accomplishments in your specific, narrow area of endeavor, then you may be able to show you are best considered at the top of your field.
• If approved, you can stay for three years, and then apply for unlimited renewals. As of 2024, the national approval rate is about 90%.
• No part of the process is based on a lottery.
• You can apply at any time of year.
• You can be sponsored by an agent organization and engage in multiple streams of work in the U.S., or you can be sponsored by a single employer.
• You do not need a Nobel Prize to successfully apply.

What is the O-1A?

The O-1A visa category is a pathway for high-achieving individuals looking to continue their work or research in the United States with an employer sponsor. Unlike the H-1B visa category, there is no limit to how many O-1s can be awarded each year and there is no lottery to choose the applicants. A successful O-1A petition takes planning but accomplished researchers in critical and emerging industries can qualify. It is recommended that individuals curate evidence of their accomplishments while earning their PhD or engaging in early career work tied to their area of PhD research, because the adjudicators of the O-1A petitions at USCIS require specificity and detail around documentation of achievement in the expert’s field. The spouse and children under the age of 21 may accompany the O-1A individual to the United States. While family members holding O-3 dependent family status are not permitted to work under
current rules, they can study full-time or part-time.

How can I improve my eligibility for the O-1A while I am a PhD candidate, on STEM OPT, or completing a postdoc?

If you are interested in considering whether to pursue an O-1A after your studies (STEM PhD defense), practical training (STEM Optional Practical Training), or fellowship (STEM postdoctoral fellowship or medical fellowship) are completed, you can get a head start in compiling evidence of and curating your achievements. Think ahead to positioning your legal counsel to be able to tell the story about your accomplishments in a particularized area of endeavor.

The following list contains ways that you can improve your eligibility for the O-1A visa.

• Writing and publishing academic papers, and participating in peer-review of publications
• Working in a research lab developing emerging technologies
• Documentation of original contributions to and a critical role in distinguished
  organizations, such as those relied upon for important defense-related basic research
• Seeking opportunities to present your research at leading conferences
• Applying for awards and grants
• Obtaining letters of recommendation from colleagues

As a Principal Investigator (PI) or mentor, how can I assist in strengthening my junior researchers’ O-1A petitions?

Mentors, PIs, and senior researchers can play an important role in the success of a junior researcher’s O-1A petition. The following list includes examples of what a mentoring researcher can do to strengthen their junior researchers’ supporting evidence.

• Educate more junior members to prepare and record, and even choose, their experiences and credentials with details and specificity that show, explain, or reveal relevance to the field (tell a story, don’t just check a box)
• Show more senior colleagues how to mentor more junior scientists for success in the immigration system
• Name junior researchers on grant applications
• Include names of junior researchers in press releases and media outreach, when appropriate
• Provide more training on how young researchers can share their work in popular media or social media
• Ensure that junior researchers are conducting peer review for conferences, journals, or grants in their own name (or at least jointly with their PI), rather than the name of the PI or the lab
• Add contextual evidence in correspondence or materials about a junior researcher’s achievements, such as the impact factor of the publication, the significance of a particular conference of symposium within the field, or the exclusivity of an award competition

How do I qualify for the O-1A?

To qualify for an O-1A classification, you must have an employer or agent submit a petition on your behalf, and that petition must demonstrate that you are at the top of the specific field in which you intend to continue working in the United States. While you may not readily self identify as someone with acclaim in your field, USCIS has defined the two required steps in O-1A adjudications to demonstrate your qualifying extraordinary ability in your field:

• Providing sufficient evidence for three of the eight evidentiary criteria
• Satisfying a totality of the circumstances review

To satisfy the evidentiary requirements, you must act as a storyteller for the USCIS adjudicator, explaining evidence of achievements satisfying at least three out of eight of the following criteria. Please note the further details on each criterion below in this guide, in the section on building a strong portfolio and in the USCIS O-1A Appendix.

• Receipt of nationally or internationally recognized prizes or awards for excellence in the field of endeavor
• Membership in associations in the field of endeavor which require outstanding achievements of their members, as judged by experts in the field
• Published materials about the individual in professional or major trade publications, or appearances or publications in other major media
• Participation, either individually or as part of a panel, as a judge of the work of others in the field
• Original scientific or scholarly contributions of major significance in the field
• Authorship of scholarly articles in the field of endeavor, as published in professional or major trade publications or in other major media
• Serving in a critical or essential capacity for organizations or establishments that have a distinguished reputation
• Commanding a high salary or other significantly high remuneration for services, as compared to others in the field of endeavor

If your achievements are not readily applicable to the above criteria, you can submit comparable evidence to establish your eligibility for the O-1A. For the USCIS adjudicators to accept comparable evidence, you must explain why a particular criterion is not readily applicable to your occupation and submit evidence that is comparable to that criterion. For example, if you do not publish scholarly articles as part of your work, you can submit a comparable achievement, such as presenting your work at a major conference or symposium.

After satisfying at least three of the eight criteria above, the petition is evaluated for the totality of the evidence provided to determine whether you have extraordinary ability such that you are properly considered at the top of your field of endeavor. This step permits the evaluation of evidence that does not fit one of the above criteria nor was presented as comparable evidence, and again creates an opportunity for the storytelling aspect of the O-1A petition to show the USCIS adjudicator that you are best considered a top, already accomplished talent in your field.

How can I build a strong portfolio of supporting evidence for an O-1A petition?

This section will go through each of the eight criteria to provide examples of what types of submitted evidence would help satisfy them.

• Receipt of nationally or internationally recognized prizes or awards for excellence in the field of endeavor
  • Awards from well-known national institutions or professional associations
  • Doctoral dissertation awards or Ph.D. scholarships, especially if from a top
    institution
  • Awards recognizing presentations at nationally or internationally recognized
    conferences
  • Receipt of U.S. government grants, stipends, or grant funding from private
    community foundations, philanthropic, or family funds
  • Awards from a national or international startup pitch competition or hackathon
• Membership in associations in the field of endeavor which require outstanding achievements of their members, as judged by experts in the field
  • Merit-based fellowships
  • Unsolicited invitations to join group or association that demands outstanding achievements in field as judged by experts
  • Fellow-level membership in an organization in your field
  • Invitation to join scientific committees or entrepreneurship clubs
  • Acceptance into accelerators or incubators
  • Invitations to be advisor or mentor to a startup or at an accelerator or incubator
• Published materials about you in professional or major trade publications, or appearances or publications in other major media. If the published materials are about your work and the team you are on that is pursuing the work, such publications can satisfy this criterion if accompanied by other evidence of the critical role you play on the team.
  • Professional or major print publications, including newspaper articles, popular and academic journal articles, books, textbooks, or similar, about you and your work
  • Transcript of professional or major audio or video coverage of you and your work
  • Presentations of your research at prominent national or international conferences, such as annual symposia of notable organizations in your field
    Note: Hometown newsletters and student-run publications do not satisfy this criterion. Podcasts and blog posts also do not generally qualify unless they go viral or you can prove large circulation among professionals in your field.
• Participation, either individually or as part of a panel, as a judge of the work of others in the same or an allied field
  • Reviewer of abstracts or papers submitted for presentation at scholarly conferences or for publication in scholarly journals
  • Member of doctoral dissertation committee
  • Peer reviewer for government research funding programs
  • Judge at events such as:
    • Hackathons
    • Pitch competitions
    • Tech awards
• Original scientific or scholarly contributions of major significance in the field
  • Published materials about the significance of your original work
  • Testimonials, letters, and affidavits about your original work
  • Documentation that your original work was cited at a level indicated of major significance in the field
  • Patents or licenses deriving from your work or evidence of commercial use of your work
  • Widespread commentary or media attention
  • Publications received significant number of citations
  • Ownership of patents for novel technologies that achieve utilization in the field
• Authorship of scholarly articles in the field of endeavor, as published in professional or major trade publications or in other major media
  • Publications in professionally-relevant journals
  • Published conference presentations at nationally or internationally recognized conferences or trade shows
• Serving in a critical or essential capacity for organizations or establishments that have a distinguished reputation
  • Senior faculty or senior research position for a distinguished academic department or program
  • Research position with key responsibilities for a distinguished non-academic institution or company, or a distinguished division of an institution or company, as explained in detail by the director or a principal investigator of the relevant organization or division
  • Principal or named investigator for a department, institution, or business that received a merit-based government grant
  • Member of a key committee within a distinguished organization
  • Founder or co-founder of, or contributor of intellectual property to, a startup
    business that has a distinguished reputation
  • Critical or essential supporting role for a distinguished organization
• Commanding a high salary or other significantly high remuneration for services, as compared to others in the field of endeavor
  • Tax returns, pay statements, or other evidence of past salary or remuneration for services
  • Contracts, job offer letters, or other evidence of prospective salary or remuneration for services
  • Comparative wages or remuneration data for your field, such as geographical or position-appropriation compensation surveys
  • Equity in a startup company
    Note: It is recommended that the salary be above the 90th percentile of comparable wage data for your location. Stock options and profit-sharing incentives do not satisfy this criterion. Bonuses may be considered if they are included in the total wages section of your tax documents.

Examples of materials submitted for a successful O-1A petition

Below is a real-world example of the materials submitted for a successful O-1A petition, for an international student who earned a STEM PhD in the US and filed for O-1A while on her STEM Optional Practical Training.

Note: Submitting similar materials can significantly strengthen an O-1A petition, but it does not guarantee approval for an O-1A. Each O-1A petition is considered on an individual basis and depends on many factors, such as the level of detail, quantity of evidence provided, and how easy it is to define the field of activity and your accomplishments in the specified field.

• Full academic CV
• Recommendation letters from:
  • Sponsoring employer’s manager of the individual, explaining her future job responsibilities if approved for the O-1A and how she is the right fit for job
  • Both PhD advisors
  • Industry researcher mentor during internship and coauthor with her on two papers
  • Industry/academic researcher who was a member of her dissertation committee
  • Professor who was a member of her dissertation committee
  • Five independent evaluators that cited her work at least three times and built on it
    Note: Having recommendations from people with different institutional affiliations help show that your work is viewed widely and positively. It is even better if some recommendation letters are from experts who live outside the United States.
• Multiple media articles (some about her, some quoting her, others about her research)
• All awards and scholarships she received, including announcements
  Note: If the announcement did not mention the number of people who applied or were considered, then it is recommended to ask the organization for a letter laying out how exclusive the award was. This is especially important for awards from outside the U.S.
• Invitations to talks from well-respected institutions both inside and outside of the United States
• All papers she published, along with background and selection rates of the journals
• All invitations to conduct peer review and other invitations to judge others’ work in her field or allied fields
• Her dissertation
• Her Google Scholar profile

Below is a real-world example of the materials submitted for a successful O-1A petition, for an MD-PhD who already had an approved immigrant visa petition for EB1A classification and who was in J-1 status and subject to the 2-year home residency requirement.

Note: This more minimalist approach may be appropriate when the individual either already has an EB1A approval or has received a one-time award that is well-understood to be of national significance. Remember that each O-1A petition is considered on an individual basis and depends on many factors, such as the level of detail, quantity of evidence provided, and how easy it is to define the field of activity and your accomplishments in the specified field.

• Petitioner information, including employer letter in support of the O-1A petition
• Letters of support from experts in the field, originally filed with the individual’s EB-1A petition
• EB-1A notice of approval from USCIS
• The individual’s published articles, with relevant citation and publication information
• Selected review articles and independent research that cite the individual’s work
• Confirmation that the individual is on the editorial boards of the Journal of Clinical Pediatric Surgery and the World Journal of Pediatric Surgery

What additional documentation do I need to submit?

The following documentation should always be submitted for a STEM researcher (beyond the required USCIS forms and filing fees, and documentation of U.S. immigration history):

• Resume with all progressively responsible professional jobs you have ever held as a scientist, technologist, or engineer, if not listed on your academic CV
• Any licenses or other authorizations to practice your profession in the state of intended employment
• Copies of degrees, diplomas, university records with academic transcripts, and translations of those documents, where applicable
• Academic credential evaluation, if your highest degree was completed outside the United States
  Note: If you will be working on potentially sensitive or export controlled technology while on an O-1A, your employer must seek any applicable export-control authorizations from the Department of State and/or Department of Commerce.
  

USCIS Appendix: Satisfying the O-1A Evidentiary Requirements

For reference: Current as of May 7, 2024

While such appendices may be updated from time to time by USCIS, the Appendix is attached here as a reference to communicate how the U.S. Government explains O-1A eligibility examples. These USCIS-provided relevant considerations show that when accomplished yet early career STEM researchers are contributing to innovation key to defense priorities they may be the type of experts that can qualify for O-1A classification.