Marketing Company CEO Gets O-1 Outstanding Worker Visa

Year: March 2020
Nationality: Chinese
Applicant company (U.S. employer): A U.S. marketing company
Beneficiary (O-1 applicant): Mr. Jane
Beneficiary Position: CEO
Application Category: O-1 Outstanding Worker Visa

BACKGROUND
– The U.S. company was founded and owned by Mr. Jane, and is suspected of being a “self-petition”.
– U.S. companies less than 5 years old, with small staff and a more strained financial position.
– Mr. Jane initially met three of the O-1 “three out of ten” items, but still had some gaps in each of them.
– The very limited material that Mr. Jane was able to provide.
– USCIS has raised the bar for O-1 processing since last year.

Mr. Jane has been in the marketing industry for more than a decade and has his own company in China as well as a company in the United States. Although he applied for EB-5 immigrant investor status, he was unable to stay in the U.S. for a long time because of the long waiting period. Due to the problem of his children’s schooling, Mr. Jane hopes to have legal status and move his family to the United States as soon as possible.

After searching the Internet for possible visa options, Mr. Jane’s initial intention was to apply for either the L-1 or the O-1, and after being introduced by a friend, he chose Tsang & Associates to start with a customized application package, comparing the advantages and disadvantages of both applications, Mr. Jane finally decided to entrust us with the O-1 Outstanding Worker Visa.

However, Mr. Jane initially met three of the O-1 “three out of ten” requirements, but had limited supporting documentation to provide. Importantly, the USCIS was raising the bar on O-1 review, and Mr. Jane’s petition received a lengthy notice of supplemental filing that questioned every requirement. Tsang & Associates specializes in creative solutions tailored to our clients. Even though the supplemental notice did not look promising, we responded proactively and guided the client in preparing the file.

KEYS TO SUCCESS
1. In-depth investigation, digging potential flash point
Mr. Jane was very worried when he received the supplemental notice, because he really had difficulty in providing more supporting documents. After carefully analyzing the notice, Mr. Zang’s team found that the immigration officer did not understand the background of marketing operations in China, and it was difficult for the immigration officer to measure the weight of some awards, projects reviewed and achievements Mr. Jane had received. Based on this, we developed a targeted supplemental document strategy.

Starting with the documents already available to Mr. Jane, the Zandikai team investigated more deeply into his award record, membership, accreditation, industry contributions, published works and corporate leadership. For example, for the awards section, it was difficult to identify whether the awards Mr. Jane had received carried national weight based solely on the supporting materials he provided. However, through further investigation of the data, we found that the awarding organization was a subordinate branch of a national institution and that the award conditions were formulated according to the guiding documents of the national department. Through this interlocking linkage, we argue that Mr. Jane’s marketing project was awarded on the strength of national standards, further highlighting his own outstanding abilities.

In addition, Zang Dikai’s team strived for excellence, and the attorney’s letter was completed after several meetings and several drafts of refinement based on comments to ensure the strength of the arguments and the presentation of the investigation results were clear and easy to understand. The immigration officer was able to recognize the value of the application documents submitted.

2. Recommendation letter issuance and guidance
Mr. Jane has been in the marketing industry for a long time and has many partners and connections in the industry, so many executives from large companies are willing to write letters of recommendation for him. In the initial submission, he also submitted a letter of recommendation, but the immigration officer said in the supplemental notice that the letter of recommendation was not objective enough, and from the content alone, he could not get effective practical evidence to prove Mr. Jane’s excellence. Mr. Jane asked the team of Zang Dikai for help on what is a valuable letter of recommendation that can convince the immigration officer.

During the initial submission, Mr. Zang’s team listed the key points that should be included in the reference letter for Mr. Jane, but the reference letter completed by the recommender was still not what the immigration officer wanted to see, and the “fake and empty” reference letter was very disgusting to the praise. Therefore, Mr. Zang’s team provided almost hands-on guidance on the preparation of a new recommendation letter, which ultimately needed to present tangible evidence of the applicant’s excellence in its content.

3. Outstanding ability to help U.S. companies grow
Although Mr. Jane’s U.S. company is small and in its infancy, Mr. Zandikai’s team combined Mr. Jane’s extensive past experience in running a company with the U.S. company’s past and future project plans to demonstrate that Mr. Jane’s outstanding ability is exactly what this small company needs to grow rapidly and expand its market pipeline. The Trump administration’s emphasis on supporting the development of local businesses is in line with this philosophy and the original intent of the O-1 visa.

4. “O-1 self-petition” Self-application
Under the regulations, O-1 self-petitions are not allowed. To avoid the USCIS finding that Mr. Jane’s petition fell into this category, the Tsang & Associates team argued that the U.S. company was eligible for the O-1 petition in terms of ownership and actual control of the company, and that the relationship between the company and Mr. Jane was a genuine employment relationship, not an opportunistic one for the sake of status, thus dispelling the USCIS’s doubts on this point.

OUTCOME
Within a week after Mr. Kan’s supplemental documents were submitted to the USCIS, he received the good news that he was approved for 3 years in one go. Mr. Kan’s family was very happy and thanked Tsang & Associates for handling the case well despite the difficulties and the strict attitude of the USCIS towards O-1 petitions, and making the case successfully approved for 3 years.


Lawyer Review
The O-1 Outstanding Worker Visa is available for business, science, arts, education, and sports. There is no quota, no need to go through the H-1B lottery process, and no parent-subsidiary relationship, executive responsibilities, salary, employees, or other aspects of the L-1 petition requirements. However, the same U.S. employer is required. If you are a self-starting company applying for an O-1 for yourself, you need to pay special attention to the restrictions and regulations related to self-petitioning. Also, O-1 may be denied in some cases because of Section 214(b) (immigrant tendency).

Outstanding individuals who are interested in applying for an O-1 visa are advised to consult with a professional attorney for a case evaluation to explore the feasibility and develop a plan and direction for their application. If you have questions in this area, please contact Tsang & Associates at
https://tsangslaw.com/services/visa-parole/o-1-individuals-with-extraordinary-ability-or-achievement/