O-1 Visa for Extraordinary Ability Foreigners to Work in US

The O-1 visa is an increasing used visa to get foreigners to work in the US. Essentially it is a non-immigrant visa that allows people who possesses extraordinary ability in business educations, arts, science, entertainment (TV or Movie) or athletics,who have demonstrated a record of extraordinary achievement which is nationally and/or internationally recognized and verifiable. It is also a dual-intent visa meaning the sponsored employee can via their company be sponsored for Permanent Residency in the US.

The O-1A visa is for people in the humanities sector like business or science and O-1B visa is for those in the entertainment industry. Sometimes it is easy to prove the eligibility for the visa type like being a Nobel Prize winner or Olympic medal which shows you are clearly top 1% of your chosen field, however in most cases it is more subjective. In that vein a O-1 applicant’s package is more comprehensive than say an H-1B visa, and needs to include at least 3 of the following forms of proof.

  • Proof of applicant’s original scientific, scholarly, or business-related contributions of major significance in the field;
  • Proof of applicant’s authorship of scholarly articles in the field, in professional journals, or other major media;
  • Evidence that the individual has been employed in a critical or essential capacity for organizations and establishments that have a distinguished reputation;
  • Documented proof of the individual’s receipt of nationally or internationally recognized prizes or awards for excellence in the field of endeavor;
  • Documented proof of the individual’s membership in associations in the field for which classification is sought, which require outstanding achievements of their members, as judged by recognized national or international experts in their disciplines or fields;
  • Published material in professional and/or major trade publications or major media about the individual, relating to the individual’s work in the field for which classification is sought, which shall include the title, date, and author of such published material, and any necessary translation;
  • Proof of the applicant’s participation on a panel, or individually, as a judge of the work of others in the same or in an allied field of specialization to that for which classification is sought;
  • Evidence that the individual has either commanded a high salary or will command a high salary or other remuneration for services, evidenced by contracts or other reliable evidence.

There is also an O-2 visa for assistants and support staff of the primary applicant and an O-3 visa for dependent spouses or children of the primary O-1 visa applicant. The O-2 applicant has to be considered an integral part of the primary applicant’s activity or event. Also it has to be proved that the tasks required of the O-2 applicant couldn’t readily be performed by a US worker.

The initial period for the O-1 visa holder is 3 years with renewability for 1 years increments indefinitely following. It is thought b/c of the nature of these individuals many would be sponsored for a Green Card under EB-1 and EB-2 easily by their employers with little waiting period. However the reality is that may not happen in practice so simply due to the cost and complex process and application times. The current proposed immigration laws are hoping to address is by making the path to Permanent Residency for these foreigners quicker and smoother.

In recent years to overcome things like the H-1B demand and quotas and risks like the H-1B visa lottery, the O-1 visa has been increasingly used to get high skilled foreign workers into the country who are unable to fit into the arbitrary quotas. It was originally introduced in 1990 and is used evermore for white-collar type work from originally being a major haven of entertainers, athletes and other people of major fame.

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Top 100 Companies & Salaries for Foreigners Seeking Jobs in US

Below is a list of the Top 100 employers for foreigners to the US primarily sponsoring them under the H-1B visa but also the E-3 Visa and O-1 Visa. This data comes from the Immigration fiscal year of 2012 and presents some interesting points of analysis.

  • 54% of the Top 100 Companies are some form of Consulting organization with over 6 in 10 of these consulting employers exclusively focussed on IT
  • The average salary paid to foreign workers in the Top 100 companies is around $85K which is far higher than overall US averages
  • Barclays Capital, Apple and Goldman Sachs are the Top 3 employers for average level each exceeding $120K per employee
  • Education has lowest average of any Industry sector at about $65K per employee (NB: Education employees often don’t count against annual caps)
  • 70% of the Top 20 Companies are headquartered in the US
Rank H1B Visa Sponsor LCA Petitions Average Salary Industry
1 Tata Consultancy Services 5,416 $63,502 IT Consulting
2 Microsoft 4,251 $97,256 Software
3 IBM 3,906 $88,555 Consulting
4 Deloitte Consulting 3,632 $96,876 Consulting
5 Wipro 3,024 $80,553 IT Consulting
6 Larsen Toubro Infotech 2,746 $59,343 IT Consulting
7 Cognizant Technology Solutions 2,738 $66,640 IT Consulting
8 Intel 1,951 $98,545 Technology
9 HCL Technologies America 1,701 $70,123 Technology
10 Ernst Young 1,430 $97,144 Consulting
11 Deloitte Touche 1,390 $74,738 Consulting
12 Oracle 1,306 $103,196 Software
13 Google 1,305 $124,616 Internet
14 Satyam Computer Services 1,263 $71,228 IT Consulting
15 Accenture 1,253 $74,765 Consulting
16 Qualcomm 1,225 $101,446 Technology
17 UST Global 1,210 $60,944 IT Consulting
18 Infosys Technologies 1,191 $70,486 IT Consulting
19 Fujitsu Laboratories OF America 1,127 $80,883 Technology
20 Patni Americas 1,078 $64,942 IT Consulting
21 Apple 803 $121,415 Technology
22 Hewlett Packard 775 $100,966 Technology
23 Cummins 772 $70,347 Manufacturing
24 System Soft Technologies 750 $54,863 IT Consulting
25 Goldman Sachs 696 $120,753 Finance
26 Mphasis 670 $72,480 IT Consulting
27 Bank of America 651 $103,490 Finance
28 JPMorgan Chase 630 $107,056 Finance
29 Amazon com 623 $102,056 Internet
30 CitiGroup 617 $114,659 Finance
31 EMC 571 $93,165 Technology
32 Marlabs 546 $67,139 IT Consulting
33 Capgemini 534 $107,518 Consulting
34 KPMG 514 $89,943 Consulting
35 Yahoo 512 $113,987 Internet
36 Rite Aid 492 $117,514 Retail
37 Management Health Systems 492 $64,792 Health
38 CVS Pharmacy 491 $119,098 Retail
39 iTech US 479 $71,778 Software
40 Ericsson 464 $86,567 Technology
41 Ebay 462 $111,363 Internet
42 Pricewaterhousecoopers 458 $69,198 Consulting
43 Kpit Infosystems 454 $58,413 IT Consulting
44 HCL Systems 450 $70,795 IT Consulting
45 Wal Mart Associates 447 $98,671 Retail
46 Cisco Systems 433 $115,556 Technology
47 Broadcom 433 $104,417 Technology
48 Barclays Capital 418 $126,434 Finance
49 Merrill Lynch 411 $112,455 Finance
50 National Institutes Of Health, Hhs 408 $74,128 Health
51 V Soft Consulting Group 405 $53,545 IT Consulting
52 Dell 404 $96,827 Technology
53 Hexaware Technologies 396 $64,230 IT Consulting
54 Micron Technology 390 $84,666 Technology
55 Jcg Technologies 386 $64,718 IT Consulting
56 GlobalValue Consulting 381 $65,925 Consulting
57 University of Michigan 376 $61,678 Education
58 University of Pittsburgh 374 $81,508 Education
59 Accenture Technology Solutions 374 $72,594 IT Consulting
60 HSBC Bank 364 $99,108 Finance
61 CSC Covansys 358 $81,906 IT Consulting
62 University Of Pennsylvania 358 $62,923 Education
63 Johns Hopkins University 351 $55,367 Education
64 Keane 346 $97,983 IT Consulting
65 3i Infotech Consulting 341 $59,774 IT Consulting
66 Yale University 339 $60,619 Education
67 Motorola Mobility 338 $95,754 Technology
68 Vedicsoft Solutions 336 $64,984 IT Consulting
69 Verinon Technology Solutions 334 $63,951 IT Consulting
70 Capgemini Financial Services 331 $86,783 Finance
71 Multivision 330 $72,021 IT Consulting
72 Texas Instruments 329 $92,357 Technology
73 VMWare 327 $109,116 Software
74 Tech Mahindra americas 321 $66,941 IT Consulting
75 UBS AG 320 $103,439 Finance
76 Mastech, Inc 320 $85,151 Technology
77 Polaris Software Lab 320 $66,139 Consulting
78 Headstrong Services 319 $86,259 Finance
79 Credit Suisse First Boston 317 $110,834 Finance
80 Symantec 317 $109,172 Software
81 Populus Group 317 $89,975 Consulting
82 Compunnel Software Group 315 $67,569 Software
83 Infosys Limited 312 $79,664 IT Consulting
84 Zylog Systems 311 $69,971 Consulting
85 Morgan Stanley 308 $111,935 Finance
86 Baltimore City Public School System 308 $65,630 Education
87 Sapphire Technologies, Lp 307 $95,348 Technology
88 Bloomberg 304 $109,062 Finance
89 Oracle Financial Services Software, Inc 303 $70,784 Finance
90 Deloitte Tax 299 $78,519 Finance
91 Stanford University 299 $71,340 Education
92 Verizon Communications 296 $88,917 Telecommunications
93 Dallas Independent School District 290 $47,885 Education
94 Schlumberger Technology 286 $74,367 IT Consulting
95 Harvard University 286 $65,512 Education
96 Marvell Semiconductor 285 $95,886 Technology
97 PayPal 284 $111,082 Internet
98 Apex Technology Systems 278 $63,003 IT Consulting
99 Columbia University 275 $72,046 Education
100 Virgo 275 $57,910 Engineering