4 Must Knows for After Getting an O-1 Visa Approval When You Applied While You Were in the U.S.

4 Must Knows for After Getting an O-1 Visa Approval When You Applied While You Were in the U.S.

Your work is not done after you get the USCIS approval letter and just because you have an O-1 Visa for three years does not mean, you can just stay in the U.S. without meeting certain requirements. These 4 Must Knows will help you plan for what you need to do after you get the USCIS approval letter and strategize to be in valid O-1 Visa status during your O-1 Visa validity period.

You must have the O-1 Visa stamp in your passport to have the visa.

If you did a change of status and applied for the O1 visa while in the U.S., you will only get “O-1 Visa” status. You must go overseas and submit a visa application to schedule your interview with the consulate and get the O-1 Visa stamp in your passport.

You have to submit a separate visa application to get scheduled for an interview at the Consulate in your home country, to get the visa stamp.

The O-1 Visa application with USCIS is separate from the Visa Application with the Consulate. You are not done once you get the O-1 Visa approval letter from USCIS.

If you leave the U.S. to travel after getting the O-1 Visa approval from USCIS, you will need to get the O-1 Visa stamp to re-enter the U.S.

If your employment ends in the U.S., even if the validity period still exists on your O-1 Visa, your O-1 Visa also terminates and you must leave the U.S.

 Your O-1 Visa is tied to your employment in the U.S. If the employment no longer exists, in the case of projects that fell through, or terminates, you no longer have authority to be in the U.S.

Use our O-1 visa Checklists to complete your immigration petition with all the required documents.  It can be devastating to get a denial of your immigration petition or Request for Evidence (RFE) which can significantly delay your approval. Retaining an O-1 visa lawyer with experience and knowledge of the process is absolutely necessary when handling such important immigration matters.