USCIS recently updated its Policy Manual to provide important guidance on evidence that can be used to support O-1A petitions which focuses on nonimmigrants of extraordinary ability in STEM fields (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics). USCIS states that “Being named on a competitive government grant for STEM research can be a positive factor toward demonstrating that a beneficiary is at the top of the beneficiary’s field.”
The O-1 nonimmigrant visa category is for the individual who possesses extraordinary ability in the sciences, arts, education, business, or athletics, or who has a demonstrated record of extraordinary achievement in the motion picture or television industry and has been recognized nationally or internationally for those achievements.
The Policy Manual provides the lists of evidence that may be submitted with a beneficiary’s O-1A petition to demonstrate that the beneficiary is among the small percentage at the top of his field.
More information is available at USCIS’s website; https://www.uscis.gov/newsroom/alerts/uscis-updates-guidance-for-o-1-petitions-with-a-focus-on-stem-fields
Remzi Guvenc Kulen, Esq.
Kulen Law Firm, P.C.
