Employment Based EB1 Visa
Employment Based EB1 Visa, also known as the EB1A or EB1EA visa, is the only EB-1 visa that allows you to petition directly on your own behalf, with the need for a US-based employer to first file for labor certification from the Department of Labor on your behalf. The EB, which is also processed much faster than the EB-2 or EB-3 categories, can be a magnet for highly accomplished and distinguished scholars, researchers, post-doctoral research fellows, PhD students and other advanced degree professionals.
The boy who didn’t believe he’d win an Oscar and got a Employment Based EB1 Visa.
Mohan never would have thought that he’d win an Oscar one day. Or that the Oscar would be for Best Music. When he was 10 years old, all he knew was that life was not fair, that school sucked, that his father shouldn’t have died so young.
Back in Chennai where he was born, Mohan skipped school a lot, and he didn’t care for books anyway. What he did love was tinkering on the piano. His father had used to run a rental service, supplying the south Indian film industry with musical instruments. Mohan could play a little bit of every instrument in the shop.
One day, a music producer who dropped in to rent some violins heard Mohan plinking out a tune on the piano and asked him what the song was. Mohan replied that it was a tune he’d composed. The producer was stunned by his virtuosity.
The producer became Mohan’s mentor and coach, knowing that one day the student would exceed the master. And Mohan did. Nearly every song he produced was a hit. Whether it was rock, reggae, Carnatic, classical Hindustani, Sufi chants, or jazz, Mohan seemed to know exactly how to weave genres seamlessly into his work.
He was awarded the Padma Shri, the highest civilian honor in India. Reputed world-class musicians were honored to jam with him. The Grammys followed, and then it was a matter of time before the score he’d written for a Hollywood movie made it to the Oscars. Mohan won his first-ever Oscar for Best Music.
When he was about 35, married and with three children, someone told him that the next phase of his life should be outside India, in a country whose music was as diverse and vibrant as his own. The United States.
It turned out that there was a visa specially designed for people of extraordinary ability like him. It was called the Employment Based EB1 Visa.
The United States releases 140,000 employment-based or EB visas every year around October, of which 28.6% are reserved for the Employment Based EB1 Visa, one of five prioritized EB visas. The EB-1 is designed to welcome three categories of people —
- Persons with extraordinary ability in the sciences, arts, education, business, or athletics.
- Outstanding professors and researchers with at least three years experience in teaching or research, who are recognized internationally.
- Multinational managers or executives who have been employed for at least one of the three preceding years by the overseas affiliate, parent, subsidiary, or branch of the U.S. employer.
Mohan easily qualified in the first group. When it came to proving that he was a person of extraordinary ability in his field, he carried his Oscar to the visa interview, but he might as well have left it at home. The Visa Officer had seen and loved the movie and recognized Mohan instantly by his name.
Although most EB visas require a prior job offer from a US-based employer, persons of extraordinary ability, like Mohan, who qualify for an EB-1EA visa can petition to migrate to the US whether they have a job there or not.
You can get more information on the Employment Based EB1 Visa visa from the detailed, user-friendly visa guides you get when you buy one of our Visa Plans.
If you have questions or would like clarifications, please send us an email and we’ll do our best to get back to you within 24 hours with an answer.