U.S. Immigration Information - O Visa, EB-5, L-1 Visa, E-2 Visa, Asylum, Green Cards and More!

This website is intended as a free information source to assist you in researching the U.S. immigration law options available to you. Whether you wish to enter the U.S. to live and work for a short period of time or for the long term, this website should prove useful as one more tool you use during your research. This website is dedicated to providing clear and concise immigration law information to professional workers, artists, entertainment industry workers, business persons, families, individuals and asylees alike.

Whether you are merely searching for background immigration information on various immigration visa options, including family and employment based green cards or non-immigrant working visas, we hope to be able to build an ongoing relationship with you and to be able to evidence our commitment to excellence, compassion, and outstanding Immigration and Naturalziation information. The information contained herein applies to all foreign persons needing information on various immigration matters including O Visa processing for those in the arts, entertainment, and sports, to non-immigrant and immigration work visa processing and asylum representation.

For additional information and free eGuides feel free to visit www.immigrationlawcenter.net and the Law Offices of Vaughan de Kirby.

The Immigration Law Knowledge You will Find on this Site includes:

• Employment Based Immigration Green Card Petitions:
  • EB-1: The first preference immigration category is available to "Priority Workers" including persons with extraordinary ability in the arts, sciences, business, education or athletics. The EB-1 category also includes outstanding professors and researchers as well as multinational managers and executives.
  • EB-2: The second preference immigration category is reserved for members of professions holding advanced degrees or persons of exceptional ability.
  • EB-3: The third preference immigration category is reserved for professionals, skilled workers, and "other" workers.
  • EB-4: The fourth preference immigration category includes "Special Immigrants" made up of religious workers and persons seeking reacquisition of citizenship.
  • EB-5: The fifth preference immigration category is aimed at employment creating investors.
• Family Based Immigration Green Card Petitions
  • Immediate Relative: Green card immigration petitions filed for the spouse, child (unmarried and under 21 years of age), and parents of a U.S. Citizen.
  • Preference Category: This green card immigration category is reserved for the following family members: (1) Unmarried son or daughter (age 21 and over) of a U.S. Citizen parent; (2A) Spouses or unmarried children (under 21 years of age) of a legal permanent resident; (2B) Unmarried sons or daughters age 21 and over of a legal permanent resident; (3) Married sons and daughters of a U.S. Citizen; and (4) Brothers and sisters of U.S. Citizens where the citizen is at least 21 years of age.
• Non-Immigrant Working Visas
  • H-1B: Visa intended for persons in speciality (professional) occupations requiring either a Bachelors degree or its equivalent in working experience. Fashion models of distinguished merit and ability are also included in this category as well as persons providing service related to Department of Defense cooperative research and development projects.
  • O-1: This category is broken down into O-1A and O-1B visas, which O-1A visas intended for persons who have extraordinary ability in the sciences, arts, education, business or athletics, demonstrated by sustained national or international acclaim. O-1B visas are intended for persons working in motion picture or TV productions who can evidence a demonstrated records of extraordinary achievement. Please see the featured article below for more background information.
  • P-1: The P visa is intended for individual or team athletes who are internationally recognized (P-1A) and also for persons who perform in an integral or essential role with an entertainment group that has gained international recognition as being outstanding in their field for a sustained period of time (P-1B).
  • L-1: The L visa can be used in several ways, the first being as an intra-company transfer of employees of two already existing businesses, one in the U.S. and the other based abroad. The other use of the L visa is available to foreign companies who wish to establish a new office/business in the U.S. There are a number of technical requirements which need to be satisfied to qualify for this visa.
  • E-2: The E visa is available to persons from nations with whom the U.S. has a treaty of friendship, commerce and navigation or a Bilateral Investment Treaty or some other treaty in existence between the foreign nation and the U.S. Persons from one of these qualifying nations may apply for an E-1 treaty trader visa, intended for substantial international trade between the U.S. and the foreign nation. The E-2 visa is available for persons from a qualifying country who wish to enter the U.S. solely to develop and direct the operations of an enterprise in which the foreign person has invested, or is actively in the process of investing a substantial amount of capital in a bona fide enterprise.
  • E-3: This visa is similar in many ways to the H-1B visa but is intended solely for Australian speciality workers.
  • TN: This visa arose out of NAFTA, between the U.S., Mexico, and Canada. This visa may be granted to Canadian and Mexican nationals who are working at a professional level in one of a number of identified professions. This TN occupation list can be found by following the TN link.
  • J-1: This visa is intended for exchange visitors to the U.S. the regulations allow non-immigrant visitors to enter who are professors, scholars, trainees or interns, teachers, au pairs, or anyone who falls under one of a number of other specified categories.
  • R-1: The R visa is available to religious workers who qualify as a minister or a person working in a professional capacity in a religious vocation or occupation for a religious organization, who for the preceding two years has been a member of the specific religious denomination.
  • K-1/K-3: The K-1 visa is intended for a fiance of a U.S. Citizen who is seeking to enter the U.S. for the sole purpose of concluding a marriage to the U.S. Citizen within 90 days of entry. The K-3 visa is available to the spouse of a U.S. Citizen who is outside the U.S. and wishes to enter the U.S. to await the processing of their green card application.
• Naturalization: This is the process by which a person becomes a U.S. Citizen after having held their Green Card for the regulatory period of time and who has not acted in a manner so as to lose the privileges of the Green Card.
• Other Immigration Services include the filing of Asylum applications, Deportation defense, and the preparation of VAWA petitions.

Recently Updated Immigration Information:

1. Click here to learn about Investment Based Green Cards immigration options

2. Click here to learn about Hague Country International Adoption immigration matters

Featured Immigration Article

Recently Updated Immigration Information:

1. Click here to learn about Investment Based Green Cards immigration options

2. Click here to learn about Hague Country International Adoption immigration matters

O Visa Immigration Option: How Your Extraordinary Ability in Entertainment, Arts, Film, Television, and Athletics Can Allow You to Work and Live in the U.S.A.

By: Immigration Attorney Hendrik Pretorius

Whatever your reasons may be for considering a move to the U.S.A. through the immigration process, your extraordinary achievement in your field of endeavor, whether the arts, business, film, or television among others, may be your ticket to entry. This immigration opportunity comes to you in the form of an O-1 visa, of which there are two types. The first immigration type, the O-1A visa, is applicable to those persons who have “extraordinary ability” in the fields of science, art, education, business, or athletics. The second category for this immigration process regards the O-1B visa, which specifically applies to those persons who have a record of extraordinary achievement in the motion picture or television industry. For this article we will focus on a few of the major O-1 visa requirements. There are great similarities between the visa requirements for the O-1A and O-1B visa, so this article gives a general overview of both. Note that this article is not to be taken as legal advice, and it is recommended to speak with an immigration attorney to evaluate your specific case.

So how does one satisfy the immigration regualtions related to this visa and prove that you have reached a demonstrated level of prominence in your field enough to qualify for an O-1 visa? Well, the immigration regulations are structured in a manner that provides an applicant with two opportunities to qualify. The first, an extremely limited opportunity, requires an applicant to have received recognition for his/her work via a major nationally or internationally recognized award such as an Academy Award, an Emmy, or its equivalent. The other, much more accessible opportunity to qualify for this visa requires an applicant to satisfy at least three of six suggested criteria. Note that although the regulations state that only three of these six need be proven, a well-prepared petition will touch on as many of these six as possible. Let’s briefly consider these six in turn:

The beneficiary of an O-1 visa petition must generally evidence, through a variety of possible evidentiary forms, that he/she has:

1. Performed and will perform services as a lead or starring participant in a production or event that has a distinguished reputation;
2. Received national or international recognition for achievements (note that this does not have to rise to the level of an Academy Award to be persuasive);
3. Performed or starred in a lead role for an organization that has a distinguished reputation;
4. A record of commercial or critically acclaimed success as evidenced via standing in the field, ratings, reviews, or through others forms of evidence;
5. Received recognition for achievements from organizations, critics, or other experts in the field via testimonials; and/or
6. Commanded or will command a high salary for services in relation to others in the field.

Accordingly, it is clear that a key focus of an O-1 visa petition is to show that your degree of skill and recognition is exceptional and is above that level ordinarily encountered in the field.

The O visa is generally granted to qualifying Beneficiaries for the period of time evidenced in the Beneficiary’s itinerary as provided by the petitioning employer or petitioning agent representing numerous individual companies or upcoming events at which the Beneficiary will perform or partake. The maximum period of time that is granted on each initial O-1 visa is three years, although extensions may be applied for. Note, it is possible to also have a green card case on file while a person is working in the U.S. on their O visa. This dual intent is an important feature of the O visa, which is not present with all non-immigrant visa types.

The Law Offices of Vaughan de Kirby can provide further assistance with such visa matters. Feel free to visit www.immigrationlawcenter.net.

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