3 ms·
O-1 visas are for extraordinary talent. H-1B is for ordinary people with some education or work experience, and supposedly only in situations where such talent
by jltsiren 3y ago
O-1 visas are for extraordinary talent. H-1B is for ordinary people with some education or work experience, and supposedly only in situations where such talent is in short supply in the US. What is missing is the middle category: a visa based on objective criteria that lets people work in the US, if their accomplishments are sufficient that it's reasonable to assume that their presence would be beneficial to the country.
- screye 3y agoIt's tricky. In reality, an O1 can be extremely hard to get in tech. All tech O1s that I know of are PhDs and many PhDs have been denied O1 because they worked in an applied role, in industry or immigration officials woke up on the wrong side of bed. On the other hand, even the most mundane TV actor will get an O1 without much issue. A PhD exists for a certain kind of person, and can feel like mind killer to many others...that sentiment is not new in tech. Mining papers and patents until you're O1 worthy is not impossible. It just feels like a useless detour to life, that you'd take only so you could get an O1. As someone with a couple of tier 1 papers and a decent amount of industry work, the best research is never allowed to be published.
- jltsiren 3y agoO-1 can be difficult to get as a corporate employee, because the criteria are about extraordinary ability rather than career success. You have to show that you are more than the sum of your experiences. That you have individual achievements beyond what can be reasonably expected from a successful professional. That's obviously easier in fields based on building an individual brand. On the other hand, if your best works are somebody else's trade secrets, can you really demonstrate that you are exceptional?