A visa sponsorship success story
One former international student worked as a journalist in New York under an O1 visa for three years.
Greetings foreign nationals, I welcome thee.
Just kidding. I sat down to write this and kept wracking my brain trying to figure out how one starts these things.
You know those emails you get from bloggers that open with “hey tribe,” or variations of that? I’m not gonna be doing that. I’m going to respect you, how’s that?
So from now on we’ll be getting right to the meat.
As promised, this week we’re talking immigration laws and work visas, the subject of many questions I’ve been getting from you.
Most international students want to stay in the United States after graduation, obviously. It only makes sense: we move to this country for the opportunities, and those don’t stop at graduation. Of course we’d want to stay and pursue them. (Not to mention that this is also in the U.S.’ best interest too, to benefit off of our hard work. But that’s for another time.)
To be allowed to both physically stay in the country and work, we need authorization either in the form of Optional Practical Training (OPT), or a visa. Both are, obviously, temporary - which sucks.
OPT grants work authorization for 12 months and can be extended for up to 3 years if you’re a STEM major, you lucky bastard you.
After your OPT expires, you’ll need a work visa. The most common ones pursued by international students are the H1B (for ‘Specialty Professionals’) visa and the O1 (for ‘Persons of Extraordinary Ability’).
They each have their challenges. The H1Bs are capped at 65,000 per year, plus another 20,000 set aside for people with a master’s degree or doctorate received from a U.S. institution. This is a small number, considering people from all over the world compete for these. Successful applications are determined via a lottery, my friends, a freaking lottery. So even after you manage to convince a company to spend time and money sponsoring you, success is still not guaranteed. Such fun!
As for the O1, often called “the genius visa,” it comes with a string of requirements one needs to meet to prove they are at the top of their field and therefore warrant the hassle.
I’ve always been under the impression that the H1B was the way to go. My own lawyer, whose firm is headquartered in downtown Manhattan where the fancy people work, told me I’d basically need a Nobel prize to qualify for an O1.
But today’s guest did not have that experience. He went for an O1, he says, because it seemed easier to get. And it was. The outcome did not depend on a lottery and national cap system. He simply had to prove he was very good at his job.
Samar Khurshid moved to New York from his native India back in 2013. He was enrolled in grad school at NYU, studying journalism. This move happened after he’d worked as a reporter for a couple of years back home.
[ This is a screen-grab from a CUNY TV discussion that Samar participated in last year, which you can watch on Youtube here. ]
While at NYU, Samar (pronounced like ‘summer’) interned for the Gotham Gazette, a politics-focused news publication. After graduating, he kept freelancing for them among others. He spent the following summer working in D.C. for another publication called Roll Call.
Long story short, it was the Gotham Gazette that hired him full time when his OPT ran out, sponsoring him for an O1 visa, the one for extraordinary abilities.
When we spoke last week, Samar outlined for me the steps he took.
First, I learned there are 2 types of O1 visas: sponsored by your employer or by an agent.
All of these visa applications are reviewed by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), then some are approved and others rejected. The employer-sponsored case has a higher chance of approval, but confines you to only working for that specific employer. An agent sponsorship, on the other hand, is less strong but if successful, would give you the freedom to freelance. A small portion of your paycheck would be going to your agent.
Samar’s O1 was sponsored by his employer, which meant he had a strong case (an entire publication vouching for him) but was only allowed to work for them. So if Samar wanted to switch jobs, he’d have to go through the whole process again.
But the good news is that his application was successful. I loved hearing about this because it debunked a myth I’d long believed in: that the O1, the “genius visa,” is reserved for intergalactically-renowned inventors, voices of their generation, or Nobel winners. How reassuring to know that it’s more reasonable than that, no supernatural powers needed. Well, except some savings.
His costs came down to an application fee of around 500$, a lawyer’s fee (around 3k) and lastly, a 500$ fee for a peer opinion review from the National Writers Union, which had to issue a recommendation since he’d be working as a reporter.
The O1 lasts 3 years and Samar’s is coming to a close, so he is in the process of applying for a yearlong extension.
With over 700 published articles after 5 years at the Gotham Gazette, he says he’s good: “You don’t need a Pulitzer.”
After the extension is up, he won’t be looking for another visa. I get it, being on a visa means constantly living a temporary life, knowing your time could be up soon but always hoping it won’t be.
“The uncertainty is what kills you,” Samar says. While the usual wait time is 3-5 weeks, this year the pandemic has led to extended wait times of up to two months. His application, for instance, was sent on July 15th and he hasn’t heard anything back yet.
Plus, he says, he’s reached a plateau. He doesn’t want to be promoted to an editor position, so there’s no professional ladder to climb. The other option would be for him to become a U.S.-based correspondent for an Indian paper, which would grant him an I visa, for “members of the foreign press.”
Of course, finding another job is easier said than done, contrary to what some of his American peers believe; they keep asking him why he doesn’t just get another job.
“I’d have to find another job that I can do and that I want to do,” Samar said, “and on top of that I’d have to get them to sponsor me for a visa. So why don’t you tell me out of this already tiny slice of the pie, what kind of sliver I can get out of that.”
Whether Samar decides to go for that or return home next year, remains to be seen.
By the way, here’s something else you might want to know about: Homeland Security is planning to start collecting more biometric data from anyone entering the country on a visa. Learn more about this here.
What else would you like to read about? Anyone you think I should interview? Was this helpful? Let me know by replying to this; your replies go straight to my inbox.
See you guys next week!
Love Respectfully,
Ana