Here’s how talent visas differ from an H-1B
We've picked the most common talent visa - O-1A - for this comparison
Annual cap on number of visas given out
Must make minimum wage set by Dept. of Labor
Go through a lottery system
Job role must be related to your degree
Easy (in fact, most founders get O-1 visas!)
File if your name gets picked in the March lottery
If approved, earliest H-1B becomes effective is Oct 1st for initial filing
If approved, change of status is immediate
H-1B
O-1A
*There's an annual cap of 65,000 visas set aside for anyone graduating with a bachelor's degree. There's an additional 20,000 visas set aside for those with an advanced degree.
As you can see, clearly there's a BIG benefit to checking out talent visas.
Now, the million-dollar question: who are these visas for?
First,
Talent visas are not only for superheroes, Nobel Prize winners, and Olympic athletes. If you don't believe us, hear it from the lion's mouth.
Second,
Talent visas are also not for everyone, or most people. Their purpose was and is to attract top talent from across the world into the country.
Talent visas are for immigrants with extraordinary abilities who have reached the top of their field — whether it be in arts, sciences, athletics, business, film, TV, or education.
They're not easy to get. They are meant for folks who've contributed significantly to their field. But, that being said, in 2023, less than 5000 people in STEM fields (engineers, founders, scientists, product leaders, etc) applied for the O-1A.
Does that mean there are only 5000 people out of the millions of STEM experts talented enough to get the visa? Heck, no.
That's why we built unshackled.club: to lower the barrier so more talented immigrants take a shot.
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