EB-1B (Outstanding Professors and Researchers)

Introduction:

  • The EB-1B is a first preference immigration petition, which applies to an alien with international recognition for his/her outstanding achievements in a particular academic field.
  • No labor certification is required although an offer of employment is required in the form of a letter from the sponsoring employer.

Criteria:

  • The alien must be recognized internationally as outstanding in a particular academic field;
  • The alien must have at least 3 years experience in teaching or research in that academic area. Experience in teaching or research counted while working on advanced degree if degree is acquired, person has full responsibility for the class taught, or the research has been recognized as outstanding in the academic field;
  • The alien must be entering the U.S. in order to pursue:
    1. A tenure or tenure track teaching position; or
    2. A comparable research position at a university or other institution of higher education; or
    3. A comparable research position with a private employer if it employs at least 3 persons full-time in research activities and the departmental, division or institution has achieved documented accomplishments in an academic field; or
    4. If it is a research position, it may be tenured, tenured track, or an offer of indefinite or unlimited duration in which the researcher will have an expectation of continued employment unless there is good cause for termination.

Evidence:
The alien must meet 2 out of the 6 criteria below, and provide an offer of employment from the prospective U.S. employer:

  • Evidence of receipt of major prizes or awards for outstanding achievement;
  • Evidence of membership in associations that require their members to demonstrate outstanding achievement;
  • Evidence of published material in professional publications written by others about the alien’s work in the academic field;
  • Evidence of participation, either on a panel or individually, as a judge of the work of others in the same or allied academic field;
  • Evidence of original scientific or scholarly research contributions in the field; or
  • Evidence of authorship of scholarly books or articles (in scholarly journals with international circulation) in the field.