If I work in Business or the Arts but my proffered employment is related to Motion Picture Productions, which standard will my O-1 petition be held to?
In 2008 the Administrative Appeals Office held that the specific job you are petitioned for decides under which O-1 level of scrutiny your petition will be considered. As discussed in a previous Q & A, there is a difference in standards applied to petition for those in the Arts and those in professions in Motion Picture and Television productions. In this case, the AAO was considering an appeal of a denied O-1 petition for a freelance editor. The AAO provided: “All O-1 non-immigrants, regardless of the exact field of endeavor, must seek entry into the United States to “continue work in the area of extraordinary ability” or “extraordinary achievement” pursuant to section 101 (a)(l5)(0)(i) of the Act and 8 C.F.R. 214.2(o)(l)(ii)(A). The beneficiary can only continue work in a given area if she has already been working in that area. Whatever the beneficiary may have done in the past, the petitioner is a video production company. The record shows that the petitioner hired the beneficiary t
