

Ask HN: Anyone got an O-1 visa? - nnd

I&#x27;d like to hear some success stories of hackers who got an O-1 visa.<p>How long did it take, what were the pitfalls and how did you (legally) hack around the inefficient immigration system?
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atroyn
I personally know two foreign founders in the U.S on the O-1.

From their experiences, the most important thing has been national press
coverage, especially through traditional media institutions, though not
necessarily in print or on TV (that said, they do have both). The second most
important thing was a good immigration lawyer specialising in this category -
the process is long and expensive, and requires a broad set of documentation.

Letters of recommendation from inside and outside the U.S, conference
speaking, research and industry whitepapers, outstanding academics can all
help.

------
Someone1234
Did you mean O-1? The O range of US visas are exceedingly rare and hard to
get. The term "Extraordinary Ability" is used. So unless you're literally
best-in-class at something or are very well politically connected within the
US you're unlikely to get one.

For example, in 2013 the US granted only 12,359 O-1s. Compared with almost 10
million visas total (although in fairness the majority of those were
tourist/temp ones).

I suggest you read the requirements here:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O-1_visa](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O-1_visa)

Unless you're a "big deal" in your home country for whatever it is you've
accomplished you will struggle to get an O-1. Also you'll likely struggle to
find too many other O-1 recipients as they just aren't that common.

~~~
keerthiko
Currently, the O-1 is popular among entrepreneurs. It is difficult, not
because the requirements are too high or they are limited, but because it is
very subjective -- depending on the personnel going through the application
you can get accepted or rejected for the same package.

Especially with the crippled H-1B system (which has over 150k applicants for a
pool of 60k visas), 12.5k O-1s going out is actually pretty promising.

Because it was originally designed for performers/athletes/artists, it has the
best-in-field requirements. However entrepreneurship doesn't really have such
rigid rules. Get a more official understanding for samples of what could be
useful here:

[http://www.uscis.gov/eir/visa-guide/o-1a-extraordinary-
abili...](http://www.uscis.gov/eir/visa-guide/o-1a-extraordinary-ability-and-
achievement/understanding-o-1a-requirements)

Of course national level awards, etc are useful, but also academic work is
highly valued (research papers, talks, judging panel, etc).

Disclosure: I am working on filling out as many requirements of the O-1 as I
possibly can right now so I can reunite with my team in the US.

~~~
nnd
Exactly the angle I'm coming from. Would you mind to share which requirements
you are trying to fulfil in particular?

~~~
keerthiko
Disclaimer: I haven't applied yet, so only talking from the perspective of
another would-be applicant having done an amount of research.

Every professional opinion about the O-1 I have been given was "the more the
merrier", so basically I'm trying to gather everything I have done in the last
6-7 years that could be relevant. Depend on the lawyer to help filter it.

Everyone says the success of the O-1 app is heavily dependent on the skill of
your lawyer. And they will cost a bit too.

An unfortunate thing is I'm told articles about or awards won by my startup or
projects do not count for much, unless I worked on them alone and it is clear
in the article/award that it is to _me_ rather than the project =/

Things I'm working on/looking at:

\- I have put efforts to have articles written about me in the local
newspapers back home.

\- Reach out into my network to find people in the highest places
(CEOs/cofounders/VCs of successful companies) who might be willing to endorse
me for the "recommendation letters from experts in the field"

\- Dig out data about the academic papers I co-authored in undergrad, to
determine how much they're referenced/cited to measure "impactful academic
publications". Google Scholar has been helpful here.

\- Try to give talks about my field (health+technology, mobile development,
entrepreneurship), although it's vague how applicable this is. So I'm only
doing the ones where _I_ don't have to pay to be given a speaker position (so
no commercial expo type deals).

\- As far as awards, so far can only mention my full tuition scholarship for
college, everything else is fairly small-time or won by our company's projects
and not me individually. Hoping that claiming I had a critical role to play in
that works.

\- Some easy checkboxes: letter from my employer (a cofounder) that I'm
critical to the team. Articles published about our company to show that we're
reputable, hence making me critical in a reputable company.

\- Our company is still picking up, but if we can raise funding, and get some
additional traction on our product, those numbers will contribute to showing
that I "have made a significant business-related contribution" by stating I
had a critical role in building the product responsible for our revenue.

The amount of money involved in moving a risky thing like the O-1 is the main
thing keeping me from applying till we're a little more stable. I estimate
it's approx 3-4 months of my runway (while I'm working from Asia) to go
through this process, with no guarantee or even estimate of success :/

------
allcentury
I've had a half a dozen or so musician friends receive an O-1 to be in the
states though not a single hacker friend.

~~~
jgill
I'd be curious to interview one or more of these musicians for an immigration
site/startup blog.

