EB-1B: Outstanding Professor or Researcher

Brief Introduction 

• Must show international recognition as being outstanding in a specific academic area​
• Must have at least three years of experience in teaching or research in the academic area
• While no labor certification is required, there must be an offer of ongoing employment from the sponsoring employer
• For a college or university teacher or researcher, the job must be for a tenured or tenure-track position 
• May not self-petition

Advantages

• Visas are mostly immediately available for those who qualify
• May file with premium processing, shortening the processing time 

​Timeline

• I-140 Application (Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker): Premium processing reduces the I-140 processing time from 6-8 months to 15 calendar days but requires an additional $2,500 fee​ to USCIS
• I-485 Application (Permanent Residence Application): 6 months
• Can submit both at the same time but if I-140 is rejected then your I-485 form will automatically be rejected as well 

​​Qualifications Criteria 

• Recognition internationally as outstanding in a specific academic field, and at least three years of teaching or research in the field 
• and
  • (a) the offer of a tenured or tenure-track teaching position or the offer of a comparable research position, OR
  • (b) the offer of a research position having no fixed term and in which the employee will ordinarily have an expectation of permanent employment, OR
  • (c) the offer of a comparable research position with a private employer if the employer has at least three full-time researchers and documented accomplishments in the research field
• International Recognition Proof.  Petition for EB1-B must establish that the foreign person is recognized internationally as outstanding in a specific academic field.  The following are the categories of evidence that can be provided to establish that (at least material of 2 out of  6 below categories are needed ) :
  • (1) Evidence of receipt of major prizes or awards for outstanding achievement;
  • (2) Evidence of membership in associations that require their members to demonstrate outstanding achievement;
  • (3) Evidence of published material in professional publications written by others about the alien's work in the academic field;
  • (4) Evidence of participation, either on a panel or individually, as a judge of the work of others in the same or allied academic field;
  • (5) Evidence of original scientific or scholarly research contributions in the field;
  • (6) Evidence of authorship of scholarly books or articles (in scholarly journals with international circulation) in the field.