Question about UK 01 Visa Application for the USA...

[daveyboy1984 0]

Hi, I was wondering if anyone here can give me some advice.

Me and my wife are looking to move to the US, California. We are both freelance in the entertainment sector working in London. We are early 30s and have been working professionally for about 10 years each. The majority of that time has been as freelancers.

We want to work freelance in the USA. We have a good list of ref letters from previous employers (about 5-7 each) and letters of intent from US companies (about 3 each). However, we don't currently know companies in the states that will sponsor us. We've been in touch with a few but they understandably want to work individually with us over time before committing to being a sponsor.

We have found a Californian based Lawyer who has his own management company. They say they would be happy to sponsor us as well as handling our application as an immigrant lawyer. They specialise in entertainment law.

We have spoken with them and they seem nice and legitimate, however, we don't know anyone who has used them before, so have no idea what it will be like.

I believe they said that with around 75% of applications the government ask for referral/additional information from each applicant which costs more money. I don't know if that's a common figure or on the high side?

Also, I'm a little wary that we will both be sponsored by the same management company who is also our lawyer. Is this a concern that the lawyer has their management company to do both sponsorship/law, or is it standard practice?

I obviously want to maximixe our chances of getting the Visa, so looking for as much info and outside expertise as possible.

Any help/thoughts with this would be a huge help.

Thanks a lot.

Mark

[Penguin_ie 5,997]

Assuming you are in similar parts of the entertainment industry, you being sponsored by the same firm is not a red flag.

Being sponsored by the same firm that is also your immigration lawyer may be-m more for you than the government. How much money does the lawyer want, or is he offering to do the immigration part for free, since you will be working for him?

[Boiler 46,276]

Not quite how the O1 works.

I personally know someone in the music business, qute well known in the particular sector, he is effectively freelance as well.

Now I have no idea if you qualify for one or will have issues.

[daveyboy1984 0]

Hi, they are asking for 5% if all earnings in the States. That doesn't sound too bad to me as most agents would want at least 10%. The only thing is that they won't actively try and find work for me. I'd have to find it and wages would go through them.

[HollywoodNorth 22]

Argh. My post got deleted.

I've had a few O1's, but in my case it was an employee/employer relationship, I was working directly for a big studio so I had no agent. I haven't tried the agent/percentage route, but it's fairly normal for a agent to take a cut. If you qualify for an O1, I'd look into filing for a EB1/EB2 immigrant visa ASAP so you can cut the agent loose down the road.

O1 qualifications for the entertainment industry isn't a big deal if you got 10+ years of verifiable and documented experience. Then its a cakewalk relatively speaking.