Outstanding Professors and Researchers

---

An I-140 petition may be filed by certain U.S. employers who intend to employ an alien professor or researcher who is outstanding in an academic field. The employer must be (1) a U.S. university or institution of higher learning offering the alien a tenured or tenured-tack teaching position in the alien’s academic field; or (2) a U.S. university or institute of higher learning offering the alien a permanent research position in the alien’s academic field; or (3) a department, division, or institute of a private employer offering the alien a permanent research position in the alien’s academic field. The department, division, or institute must demonstrate that is employs at least three persons full-time in research positions, and that it has achieved documented accomplishments in an academic field. As stated above, the job offer must be permanent in nature, which means that is must be either tenured, tenured-track, or for an indefinite or unlimited duration in which the employee would ordinarily have an expectation of continued employment, unless there was good cause for the termination of his employment. Although a job offer is required in this category, obtaining an approved Labor Certification application is not required. The job offer is simply submitted in the form of a letter from the U.S. employer, and must include the name, title, and address of the writer, and a specific description of the job duties. The evidence that must be submitted with the I-140 petition must clearly document that the professor or researcher is recognized internationally as outstanding in his/her academic field. The evidence must consist of at least two of the following:

1. Documentation of the alien’s receipt of major prizes or awards for outstanding achievement in the academic field;

2. Documentation of the alien’s membership in association in the academic field which require outstanding achievements of their members;

3. Published material in professional publications written by others about the alien’s work in the academic field; (The material must include the title, date, and author of the material, and must be accompanied by an English translation if it is written in foreign language.)

4. Evidence of the alien’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 alien’s original scientific or scholarly research contributions to the academic field; or

6. Evidence that the alien has written scholarly books or articles in scholarly journals with international circulation in his/her academic field.

The professor or researcher must have at least three years experience in teaching and/or research in the academic field. Experience grained while working on an advanced degree is acceptable only if the alien was granted the degree. If his/her experience was in teaching, then he/she must have had full responsibility of the class(s) taught. If his/her experience was in research, then the research must have been recognized as outstanding academic field. The evidence of the alien’s experience must be in the form of a letter or letters from the alien’s current or former employer(s), and must include the name, address, and title of the author, and a detailed description of the duties performed by the alien.