Source: http://www.abilblog.com/us-blog/category/o1-visa
Timestamp: 2019-04-22 14:56:38+00:00

Document:
Will Kazarian Change the O-1 Visa?
The value of the O-1 visa is its flexibility, an adaptive quality that enables it to respond to the different needs of different petitioners. Any formulaic approach that restricts the full and open expression of such subtlety not only reduces the value of the O-1 but undermines its bedrock utility. That is why the stated willingness of the USCIS to apply a subjective Kazarian-style final merits analysis in the O-1 context, even after the applicant has satisfied the evidentiary criteria, should arouse our most serious concern. This is true for several reasons. Not only does such a constricted view of the O-1 prevent it from being all that it can be, but it blurs the distinction between the O-1 and the EB1-1 extraordinary ability immigrant petition, two different visa categories with different purposes. Just as the approval of an O-1 nonimmigrant petition does not ensure similar approval of an EB1-1 immigrant petition, the analytical tools used by USCIS examiners to evaluate the merits of these distinct categories must themselves remain separate.
With this as our starting point, what do the regulations tell us about the O-1? The O-1 visa is a useful visa for people, under INA §101(a)(15)(o), who can demonstrate extraordinary ability in the sciences, arts, education, business or athletics. Unlike the H-1B visa, it is not subject to an annual cap. It can also be availed of by artists and entertainers, people who are traditionally self-employed, as long as an agent serves as a sponsor. Although the “extraordinary ability” standard is a high one, artists can prove their eligibility under a lower “distinction” standard pursuant to INA §101(a)(46). Those qualifying for an O-1 visa in the motion pictures or television industry have to demonstrate extraordinary achievement, rather than extraordinary ability. There are thus three different standards under the O-1 visa.
Extraordinary ability in science, education, business or athletics means “a level of expertise indicating that the person is one of the small percentages who have arisen to the very top of the field of endeavor.” 8 CFR 214.2(o)(3)(ii).
(6) Evidence of the alien's authorship of scholarly articles in the field, in professional journals, or other major media.
(8) Evidence that the alien has either commanded a high salary or will command a high salary or other remuneration for services, evidenced by contracts or other reliable evidence.
(C) If the criteria in paragraph (o)(3)(iii) of this section do not readily apply to the beneficiary's occupation, the petitioner may submit comparable evidence in order to establish the beneficiary's eligibility.
Extraordinary Achievement in the motion pictures and television means a “very high level of accomplishment in the motion picture or TV industry evidenced by a degree of skill and recognition significantly above that ordinarily encountered.” 8 CFR 214.2(o)(3)(ii).
If the above criteria do not readily apply, only those establishing distinction in the arts can submit comparable evidence. People trying to qualify for an O-1 visa under the extraordinary achievement standard for motion pictures and the TV industry cannot submit comparable evidence.
All O-1 petitions must be accompanied by consultations from the appropriate unions, and if they do not exist, may contain opinions from expert sources.
Recent unpublished decisions from the Appeals Administrative Office are applying the two-part approach in Kazarian v. USCIS, 596 F.3d 1115 (9th Cir. 2010). When Kazarian was first decided, it was received with much jubilation as it was thought that the standards for establishing extraordinary ability under a green card category pursuant to INA § 203(b)(1)(A)(i) would be more straightforward and streamlined. Kazarian essentially holds that a petitioner claiming extraordinary ability need not submit extraordinary evidence to prove that he or she is a person of extraordinary ability. If one of the evidentiary criteria requires a showing of scholarly publications, the petitioner need not establish that the scholarly publications in themselves are also extraordinary in order to qualify as a person of extraordinary ability. This is a circular argument, which Kazarian appropriately shot down. If Kazarian just stopped there, it would have been a wonderful outcome. Unfortunately, Kazarian has been interpreted to also require a vague and second step analysis known as the “final merits determination,” which can stump even the most extraordinary. We point readers to Cyrus Mehta’s blog, How Extraordinary Does One Have to Be to Qualify as a Person of Extraordinary Ability, for a detailed analysis of the Kazarian decision and how the USICS has interpreted it.
(2) ... [W]hile the AAO's analysis might be relevant to a final merits determination, the AAO may not unilaterally impose a novel evidentiary requirement (emphasis added).
Kazarian v. USCIS, 596 F.3d at 1121.
The authors question whether it is appropriate for the AAO to adopt the Kazarian two step analysis to O-1 petitions. Kazarian involved an extraordinary ability petition under INA § 203(b) (1)(A)(i), which is the employment-based first preference category (EB-1), through which an alien obtains lawful permanent residence. While the extraordinary ability criteria under the EB-1 may be identical to the O-1 extraordinary criteria for science, education, business and athletics, the criteria for extraordinary achievement in the motion picture and TV industry and for distinction in the arts are markedly different. Moreover, the O-1 visa petition requires a consultation from a union or expert opinion. A favorable opinion from the relevant union for an artist ought to be given deference by the USICS. Injecting Kazarian into the O-1 visa adds needless subjectivity into the decision making process.
Kazarian’ s two-part test and final merits determination analysis runs counter to prior decisions such as, Buletini v. INS, 860 F.Supp. 1222 (E.D. Mich 1994), which held, "[o]nce it is established that the alien's evidence is sufficient to meet three of the criteria listed in 8 C.F.R. § 204.5(h)(3), the alien must be deemed to have extraordinary ability unless the INS sets forth specific and substantiated reasons for its finding that the alien does not meet extraordinary ability.” Id. at 1234. Similarly, in Muni v. INS, 891 F. Supp. 440 (N.D. Ill. 1995), a federal court reversed a denial for a professional hockey player where INS did not apply the proper criteria for extraordinary ability, and based its decision on the ground that he was not an all-star or one of the highest paid players. Under the burden shifting approach in Buletini, the petitioner should be deemed qualified, and the burden then shifts onto the Service to reject the evidence that meet the criteria, if suppose, it finds that the evidence was fraudulent or too dated and stale. In fact, such a burden shifting approach is not unknown in other aspects of immigration law. If the Kazarian final merits determination analysis was deployed at that time, both Muni and Buletini, a leading physician in Albania, may have suffered a different fate. As our colleague David Isaacson has pointed out, in the asylum context, an applicant who demonstrates that he or she has suffered past persecution on account of a protected ground is rebuttably presumed to have a reasonable fear of future persecution on that same ground. 8 C.F.R. §§ 208.13(b)(1), 1208.13(b)(1). In such cases, by regulation, “the Service shall bear the burden of establishing by a preponderance of the evidence” that a change in circumstances, or the reasonable possibility of relocating within the country of persecution, should lead to a denial of asylum. 8 C.F.R. §§ 208.13(b)(1)(ii), 1208.13(b)(1).
For an O-1 or O-2 case, the adjudicator must determine whether the alien meets the standards as outlined in the regulations cited above; however, he/she cannot make a favorable determination simply because the petitioner has submitted three of the forms of documentation mentioned. It must be a decision based on whether the total evidence submitted establishes that the alien of extraordinary ability has sustained national or international acclaim and recognition in his field of endeavor; or in the case of an alien of extraordinary ability in the arts and extraordinary achievement in the motion picture or television industry, whether he or she has a demonstrated record of high level accomplishment or a high level of achievement (or “distinction”).
However, it is not clear from this passage whether the USCIS intended to specifically apply the Kazarian “final merits determination” approach. The USCIS, and the predecessor Immigration and Naturalization Service, has always insisted that the alien overall meet the standard of extraordinary ability, but this was never meant to be as expansive as the Kazarian final merits determination. Rather, under the Buletini standard, the burden was on the government to the INS sets forth specific and substantiated reasons for its finding that the alien does not meet extraordinary ability.
The positive aspect of Kazarian, which established that the USCIS cannot create extra-regulatory criteria during the adjudication of a visa petition, without formally amending the regulation through notice and comment to stakeholders, ought to be applicable to all visa petitions. On the other hand, introducing the vague and subjective “final merits determination” to O-1 visas will needlessly add subjectivity to the process, when Congress specifically required that O-1 visa petitions be accompanied by union consultations and expert opinions. Kazarian was also a decision that deals with the extraordinary criteria under the EB-1, while the O-1 visa has three different standards – extraordinary ability, extraordinary achievement and distinction. The guidance fails to alert USCIS adjudicators on how they could specifically apply the “final merits determination” standard to extraordinary achievement and distinction. It is also important to restrict the application of the Kazarian final merits determination to other visa adjudications, or else there will be no limitation to the reach of the final merits determination. Will is also impact H-1B and L visa adjudications? The long-range impact of what charitably be called “doctrine creep” is not hard to fathom. If the USCIS were to use the Kazarian final merits exercise much as it now deploys the Neufeld Memo, the meaning of “extraordinary ability” would be transformed beyond all ready recognition, much as the right of control has evolved beyond the imagination of the regulation that created it. When Congress enacted the standards for visa petitions, it intended adjudicators to faithfully apply those standards to either approve or deny the petitions. The infusion of the Kazarian “final merits determination” to visa adjudications would allow USCIS adjudicators to impermissibly stray from those standards.
Beyond that, to wrap the O-1 in an analytical straitjacket is yet another disturbing example of legislation through interpretation by the USCIS. While the INA itself does not change, what it means most certainly does change. All this comes about without the assent of Congress, whether expressed or implied, and in the absence of any notice and comment rulemaking mandated by the Administrative Procedures Act, thus eliminating the possibility of participation by concerned stakeholders. We all remember how the Administrative Appeals Unit decision in the New York State Department of Transportation case completely changed the meaning and practice of the National Interest Waiver. More recently, the USCIS jihad against the L-1B visa category and what amounts to a de facto rejection of the very concept of specialized knowledge has, in practice, repealed this visa provision to a very large extent. Is the O-1 now to suffer the same fate? What may be the most hard to detect damage resulting from invoking Kazarian in the O-1 arena is the fact that the evidence submitted by an O-1 petitioner is now to be judged by criteria that cannot be defined or even anticipated in advance Any attempt by the USCIS to use Kazarian to complicate the O-1 must be resisted. Complexity that exists for its own sake, not as an aid to an intellectually honest assessment but as a substitute for it does not advance the national interest. In a democratic society, the logic of any successful national policy must be transparently obvious to those who have to obey and support it. That is why the blurring of distinction between the O-1 and the Kazarian final merits determination is not only of little benefit to its intended beneficiaries, but actually frustrates any coherent attempt to make the system more amenable to consistent interpretation and effective enforcement.

References: §101
 §101
 v. 
 § 203
 v. 
 § 203
 v. 
 § 204
 v.