EB-1b: Outstanding Professor or Researcher

A university, or an institution of higher education, or a qualified private employer may file an I-140 petition for a professor or researcher who is outstanding in an academic field.

Such a petition must be accompanied by 1) evidence that the professor or researcher is recognized internationally as outstanding in the academic field specified in the petition; 2) evidence that the alien has at least three years of experience in teaching and /or research in the academic field; and 3) an offer of employment from a university, institution of higher education or a qualified private employer in the United States.

To demonstrate that the professor or researcher is recognized internationally as outstanding, the evidence shall consist of at least two of the following six categories:

• Documentation of the alien’s receipt of major prizes or awards for outstanding achievement in the academic field;
• Documentation of the alien’s membership in associations in the academic field which require outstanding achievements of their members;
• Published material in professional publications written by others about the alien’s work in the academic field.  Such material shall include the title, date, and author of the material, and any necessary translation;
• Evidence of the alien’s participation, either individually or on a panel, as the judge of the work of others in the same or an allied academic field;
• Evidence of the alien’s original scientific or scholarly research contributions to the academic field; or
• Evidence of the alien’s authorship of scholarly books or articles (in scholarly journals with international circulation) in the academic field.

The teaching position offered from a university or institute of higher education must be tenured or tenure-track in the academic field.  The research position offered must be permanent.

This immigration benefit is also available to researchers in a department, division, or institute of a private employer so long as the department, division, or institute may show that it employs at least three persons full-time in research positions and that it has achieved documented accomplishments in an academic field.

Although EB-1b petitions have to be filed by the employers, there is no labor certification required for this classification.