EB-1 Category for Outstanding Professors and Researchers

The First Preference Employment-Based Immigrant (EB-1) category for Legal Permanent Residence consists of three groups:

  1. Aliens of extraordinary ability;
  2. Outstanding professors and researchers; and
  3. Multinational managers and executives.

To qualify as an outstanding professor or researcher in this category, the applicant must demonstrate

  • International recognition as outstanding in a specific academic field;
  • At least three years of teaching or research in the field; and
  • An offer of employment.

This offer of employment can take three forms:

  1. A tenured or tenure-track teaching position or a comparable research position;
  2. A research position with no fixed term, in which the employee would generally have the expectation of permanent employment; or
  3. A research position with a private company if the employer has at least three full-time researchers and has documented research accomplishments in the field.

Unlike aliens in the extraordinary ability subcategory, aliens in the outstanding professor or researcher subcategory must have a job offer. However, as with all first preference employment petitions, no labor certification is required.

Aliens demonstrate that their work has been recognized as outstanding in the international arena by presenting evidence similar to that required to show extraordinary ability. Two of the following types of evidence are required:

  • Receipt of a major international prize or award for outstanding achievement in the academic field;
  • Membership in associations that require outstanding achievements of their members;
  • Material in professional publications written by others about the alien's work;
  • Participation as a judge of the work of others in the field;
  • Original contributions in the field; or
  • Authorship of scholarly books or articles in journals with international circulation.

Strong evidence includes peer-reviewed publications and participation as a peer-reviewer. As always, one of the strongest types of evidence is the submission of letters from academic peers.

Along with the petition, the potential employer must submit a letter outlining the employment offer. The letter must include basic terms of employment, including salary.