Green Card for "Outstanding" Researchers and Professors

"Outstanding" researchers and professors can qualify for a green card in a stream-lined fashion, without the employer first testing the labor market through a labor certification application, the standard procedure for Other Professionals. To qualify as "outstanding," the applicant must be recognized internationally in a specific academic area.

Evidence of this international recognition can include: major prizes or awards; membership in associations that require outstanding achievements of their members; published material in professional publications about the applicant's work; participation as a judge of the work of others; and original scientific or scholarly research, including authorship of scholarly articles or books.

The applicant must also have three years of experience in the area of expertise, either teaching or doing research. If coming to teach, the applicant must have a job offer for a tenured or tenure- track position to teach in the area of expertise at a university or comparable institution of higher education. (The eventual failure however to achieve tenure will not later invalidate the green card.) If coming to do research, the applicant must have a job offer for a research position in the area of expertise at a university or comparable institution, or with a private employer that has at least three full-time researchers and documented accomplishments in an academic field.

If the applicant or employer does not fall within the criteria of this category, other categories may still be available: "Extraordinary" or "Exceptional" Ability or Other Professionals.

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