Outstanding Professors and Researchers

This category requires that an individual enter the U.S. in a tenured or tenure track teaching or comparable research position at a university or other institution of education. The employer may also be a private company with at least three full time research employees and which has documented accomplishments in the academic field in which the employment is offered. An “employer” must act as the petitioner and must sign the I-140 petition. As with other groups in the first preference category, no labor certification is required. However, a job offer is a requirement. The Immigration and Naturalization Service requires that the employer submit with the petition an offer of employment in the form of a letter from:

  1. A United States university or institution of higher learning offering the individual a tenured or tenure-track teaching position in the person’s academic field;
  2. A United States university or institution of higher learning offering the individual a permanent research position in the person’s academic field; or
  3. A department, division, or institute of a private employer offering the individual a permanent research position in the person’s academic field. The department, division or institute must demonstrate that it employs at least three persons full-time in research positions, and that it has achieved documented accomplishments in an academic field. It should be noted that research positions must be “permanent”, (for an unlimited duration with the expectation of continued employment).
  4. In order to qualify as an outstanding professor or researcher, a petition must be accompanied by evidence that the professor or researcher is “recognized internationally as outstanding” in the academic field specified in the petition. Such evidence must consist of at least two of the following six categories;
    1. Documentation of the individual’s receipt of major prizes or awards for outstanding achievement in the academic field;
    2. Documentation of the individual’s membership in associations in the academic field which require outstanding achievements of their members;
    3. Published material in professional publications written by others about the individual’s work in the academic field. Such material must include the title, date, and author of the material, and any necessary translation;
    4. Evidence of the individual’s participation, either individually or on a panel, as the judge of the work of others in the same or an allied academic field;
    5. Evidence of the individual’s original scientific or scholarly research contributions to the academic field; or
    6. Evidence of the individual’s authorship of scholarly books or articles (in scholarly journals with international circulation) in the academic field.
  5. Evidence that the individual has at least 3 years of experience in teaching and/or research in the academic field. The regulations state that experience in teaching or research while working on an advanced degree will only be acceptable if the individual has acquired the degree, and if the teaching duties were such that he or she had full responsibility for the classes taught or if the research conducted toward a degree has been recognized within the academic field as outstanding. Evidence of teaching and/or research experience must be in the form of letter(s) from current or former employer(s) and should include the name, address, and title of the writer, and a specific description of the duties performed by the individual.
 

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