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Comment by SeoxyS | Hacker News Reader

The O1A visa is definitely the right visa for startup founders. I think that with a little hair-twisting and a good attorney, the current criteria for the visa can be twisted to cover most startup founders who have some kind of a track record.

I am by no means someone special in any way, compared to things that many other HNers have done. But I have now received an O1A visa successfully, twice.

I think the bigger problem with having that visa (or an H1B) is that it makes the prospect of quitting incredibly daunting. Each time you change your job, you have to leave the country, apply anew, risk being denied, and spend another 10k on legal & filing fees.

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Re: that last point, you're exactly right. See Nikki's piece (search: O-1) https://medium.com/@nikkidurkin99/my-startup-failed-and-this...

Unfortunately, that's a feature, not a bug. The anti-fraud people prefer it that way, and they have a lot of influence within DC to block these proposed changes.

Luckily, the O-1A, in contrast with the H-1B visa, is that it is an analog to a green card, the EB-1A, so if you are able to get an O-1A and wish to get the professional stability that a green card offers, you should be able to quickly progress from O-1A to EB-1A, which doesn't have the badly backlogged lines (especially for Indians or Chinese) of the EB-2 or EB-3 work-based, academic-qualifications green cards.

Yes, on paper the requirements are pretty much the same. But, O1s and EB-1s are processed by different offices within the USCIS. I've found that whomever processes the EB-1s tends to be much more strict than for O-1s. I've had an identical case get approved for O-1 and rejected for EB-1.

On paper, yeah. In practice, the Kazarian test changes the EB-1A a bit. I'm unhappy to hear that in practice the difference is that significant.

Link: http://shusterman.com/extraordinaryabilityimmigration.html

What was the average legal cost for filing for an O1? I think I could meet the criteria, but being in the US is only marginally useful for me.

I was under the impression O1 visas didn't require employment?

I have been under a mixed impression on the O-1 for a long time myself. Nikki seems to indicate that hers at least was a work-sponsorship. However, though I don't have a similar anecdote to point to, I understand you can do a self-sponsorship O-1 that isn't tied to an employer.

More research is needed here.

Alex MacCaw [1] suggests that O1 requires sponsorship from a US company. My anecdotal and outdated experience matches his description.

[1] http://blog.sourcing.io/visa-guide

The O1 is employer-sponsored. You need a sponsor.

The filing fees will run up about 2k including expedited processing (which is usually worth it). You're gonna have to go through a quite thorough process of building up a detailed dossier making your case for the government to review. This can easily cost 5-10k, depending on your attorney and the complexity of your case.

You can be sponsored by an agent as well.

http://www.cjlore.com/blogs/charles-blog/o-1-visa-sponsor-ag...

Any chance you could shoot me an email? I'm about to go through the same process - chintan@pennywhale.com

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