Chapter 5 – Sustained Acclaim, Sponsorship and O1 Visa Duration *

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For the O-1 Arts, Science, Business, Education and Athletes category sustained national or international acclaim must be well documented. However, for the Motion Picture and Television category sustained acclaim is not required.

Crucial to the success of any application will be your ability to provide your immigration attorney with as much information as possible about your extraordinary achievements in your field of endeavor. All claims must be documented.  It’s not enough to say that you had many articles written about yourself, you will need to dig up those actual articles. If you’ve had chart success, then submit the Billboard press cutting. If you’ve had financial success, submit the contract stating the remuneration and so on and so on. The more you supply the better your chances.  This is a very time consuming exercise but well worth all the effort required. Leave no accolade un-submitted.

Although we will guide you through these steps, there is no substitute for you doing extensive leg work to gather all the evidence needed to support your case.

O1 Sponsorship

All O-1 applications start with a sponsor petitioning you for your visa. This means that some company or agent based in the US will need to file an application on your behalf to qualify as a suitable candidate for O-1 status.

Where the employer is the petitioner then all that is required is the application being made on your behalf stating the complete package on offer, such as remuneration,  length of service etc. This information together with all the documentation attesting to your O-1 qualifications will be submitted for consideration.

For those artistic applicants who are traditionally self-employed but contracted for specific periods, such as in a publishing contract, touring contract, or performance season, the artist’s US agent can act as the petitioner showing copies of the contracts and dates etc of the work to be done. So for example, if an artist is entering the US as part of a nation-wide tour, then the agent will submit the itinerary of that tour and the contract surrounding it. If the artist is coming to record an album or work with other artists, then the artist’s record contract / publishing deal would need to be submitted as part of the application package.

O1 Visa Duration

The O-1 generally lasts for the duration of the US engagement. However, typically, it is initially issued for three years and can be extended indefinitely at annual intervals forever, as long as the visa holder continues to remain occupied in the field creating the O-1 status.