Rachel Browning’s Legal Blog

The EB-1 “Outstanding Professor or Researcher” category is available to professors and researchers who are recognized internationally as being outstanding in a specific academic area, with an established, peer recognized research record.

To be eligible, the alien must have:

• An offer of employment for a tenured or tenure-track position or a comparable “permanent” research position. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services defines a “permanent” position as one that is “for a term of indefinite or unlimited duration, and in which the employee will ordinarily have an expectation of continued employment unless there is good cause for termination.”
• Three years of teaching and/or research experience in the academic field, generally beyond the Ph.D.
• National and international recognition as being “outstanding” in the academic field. The alien must meet at least two of the following six criteria that include evidence of:

·         Receipt of major prizes or awards for outstanding achievement in the academic field.

·         Membership in associations in the academic field which require outstanding achievements of their members.

·         Published material in professional publications written by others about the scholar’s work in the academic field.

·         Participation, either individually or on a panel, as the judge of the work of others in the same or an allied academic field.

·         Original scientific or scholarly research contributions to the academic field.

·         Authorship of scholarly books or articles (in scholarly journals with international circulation) in the academic field.

In addition, the USCIS usually grants these visas to individuals who are going to be employed by a college, university, hospital, or other research-type institution.  While it’s possible for individuals who will be working for a private company to be eligible for this type of visa, it’s a more challenging case to make, mainly because of the requirement that the institution sponsoring the alien have “documented research accomplishments,” meaning other researchers employed there who have done similar work, usually of the “cutting edge” variety. 

Individuals who do qualify for an Outstanding Researcher position and are deemed eligible by the USCIS will receive a “first preference” visa.  What this means is that 1) the employer does not have to file a labor certification application and test the labor market for other, qualified U.S. citizen workers; and 2) once the petition is approved, a visa is usually immediately available to the alien (i.e., no waiting in line for years and years). 

For more information on this useful and innovative category, or to find out if you qualify, contact the Immigration Attorneys of Smith & Garg, P.C.  in our new Westchase – Houston office!