Immigration Through Employment

EB-1 Extraordinary Researchers, Professors, and Aliens of Extraordinary Ability

The EB-1 visa category applies to 3 types of aliens:

1. Aliens with extraordinary ability: foreign citizens possessing extraordinary ability in the arts, sciences, education, business, or athletics.
2. Outstanding Professors and Researchers: the professor or researcher must be outstanding in his/her academic field, and must be internationally recognized for his/her work.
3. Certain Multinational Managers and Executives: high ranking managers or executives that wish to continue to work for the same employer in a managerial or executive capacity in the U.S.

Aliens with Extraordinary Ability

The labor certification is not required, but in order to qualify for the EB-1 visa the alien must be at the top of his/her field, and should be able to provide substantial documentation of his/her qualifications, such as documentation of nationally or internationally recognized prizes or awards for excellence in the alien’s particular field, published materials about the alien in professional or major trade publications referring to the alien’s outstanding work in the field, scholarly articles published by the alien in professional or major trade publications, as well as other documentation of the alien’s original scientific, scholarly, artistic, athletic, or business-related contributions of major significance in the field.

The documentation for the EB-1 category must be fairly substantial, and we recommend that you contact one of our expert lawyers to discuss your qualifications, and whether the EB-1 visa is right for you.

Outstanding Professors and Researchers

Certain internationally recognized researchers and professors will also not need to complete the labor certification process. However, as with the “extraordinary ability” category, a very substantial amount of documentation will be necessary in order to qualify for a green card through the EB-1 category. The alien professor or researcher will need to show that he or she:

1. At least 3 years of experience in his/her field as a professor or researcher

2. Is internationally recognized as being outstanding in his/her field, the evidence for which can include:

• Receipt of major prizes or awards for outstanding achievement;

• Documentation of the alien’s membership in associations in the academic field which require outstanding achievements of their members;

• published material in professional publications written by others about the alien’s work in the academic field;

• evidence of participation as the judge of the work of others in the same or an allied academic field;

• evidence of original scientific or scholarly research contributions to the academic field;

• evidence of authorship of scholarly books or articles in the academic field.

3. Has a job offer for a permanent research position (if a researcher) or a tenure-track teaching position (if a professor).

Multinational Managers and Executives

Certain multinational executives and managers can qualify for permanent residence through the EB-1 category if he or she:

• Has been employed outside the U.S. for at least 1 year within the 3 years prior to applying for the visa classification

• The employment must have been in a managerial or executive capacity

And the employment must have been with the same company (or its affiliate) that will be employing the alien in the U.S.