[DelaneyM]

EB-1: You must have been employed outside the United States in the 3 years preceding the petition for at least 1 year by a firm or corporation and you must be seeking to enter the United States to continue service to that firm or organization.

O-1A: very hard to get in business without either a letter from a senator/governor or a long history of speaking gigs (according to my immigration lawyer).

[dusanbab]

If you've studied O-1 recipients in non-business's categories, I think founders have it hard. I certainly know of some recipients in other industries and honestly the burden of proof was just not as difficult.

[jgh]

I was recently approved for an O-1 and have a less prestigious, let's call it, career than you. My O-1 was based largely off of open source contributions (several startups have started based around one of my projects) and funding raised for my own startup. Perhaps you need to talk to another lawyer.

[DelaneyM]

The biggest issue is publicity. You need to be able to demonstrate public/peer recognition of your achievements, and I don't have anything which qualifies. I haven't heard of OS contributions being sufficient, but I can certainly see the argument.

The other (and apparently more common) way business folks get O-1 approval is an endorsement from a high-level government official. My lawyer was reasonably confident that if I could secure financing and demonstrate potential this would be possible, however I'm not comfortable working that hard for that long only to be held up on the whims of a senator in an election year, particularly since I couldn't incorporate without having status.

It's frustrating but understandable. The UCIS has no way to evaluate "Extraordinary Ability", so they can only go off your perceived position relative to your peers.

[jgh]

Yeah the publicity requirement is tough. In my case it's been a couple of projects I've started (one before was a finalist in TechCrunch Disrupt) and my current startup that have gotten press, but never me as an individual. Fortunately I was able to get founders from about 4 companies (both in the US and international) to write letters vouching for me, as well as a couple investors which helped. I'm considering whether or not it's worth it to try to get an EB-1 now, since it is stricter than O-1 and I would need to do some speaking engagements and get press naming me personally.

[DelaneyM]

I get the impression that a lot of people satisfy the requirements by buying publicity, either placement in trade journals or sponsoring conferences.

Both of those options were suggested by my lawyers, and once you realize it's possible and common one starts seeing it everywhere.