How to Improve Your O-1 Visa Credentials and Get Approved

If you’re a startup founder eyeing the US market, the O-1A visa might be your golden ticket, but unlocking it isn’t easy. Unlike standard work visas, the O-1A asks for more than just potential. You need to prove you’re already operating at the top of your game, with the paperwork to back it up.

Founders often hit a wall when trying to turn their startup journey into a legal case. If not framed properly, strong wins like press coverage or major traction get overlooked, and that’s where things fall apart.

Deel Immigration has become the go-to partner for founders who know they’ve built something meaningful but need help translating that into a format USCIS recognizes. We map out an immigration strategy that supports every claim and present your achievements in a way that sticks. Founders who were once told “not yet” now hold approved O-1 visas in hand.

Let’s look at what it actually takes to qualify, and how to shape your case:

Top reasons O-1 visa petitions are rejected (even if you’re qualified)

To get approved for an O-1 visa, you must meet at least 3 out of 8 official criteria laid out by the immigration services of USCIS. These include:

• National or international awards for excellence
• Press coverage in major media or trade publications
• Memberships in associations requiring outstanding achievements
• Judging the work of others in your field
• Original scientific, scholarly, artistic, athletic, or business-related contributions
• Authorship of scholarly articles in the field as published in recognized national or international publications
• Critical role at a company with distinguished reputation
• High remuneration compared to others in your field

Even top-tier founders get denied, not for lack of merit, but because of how they present it. Here’s where it often falls apart:

• Under-documenting real achievements: The US citizen and immigration services won’t infer anything. If you are judging a hackathon in the future, collect any flyers that may have your name on them, take pictures at the event, and gather any emails, posts, or other supporting documentation that shows you participated as a judge
• Claiming original contributions without validation: If you invented something impactful, you’ll still need official proofs. A novel AI model sounds impressive, but unless you show adoption metrics, funding tied to it, or expert letters citing its significance, it won’t hold weight
• Press that lacks weight: Coverage in low-traffic or non-reputable sites (or pieces that focus on your company, not you) is easy for officers to dismiss. You will need big guns like TechCrunch and Forbes on your side
• Remuneration claims that don’t hold up: Equity alone doesn’t cut it unless backed by SAFE agreements or formal valuation docs
• Generic letters of recommendation: Vague praise or name-dropping isn’t enough. USCIS expects detail: metrics, roles, outcomes, like “X scaled a platform to 500K users in 12 months.”

Told you’re not O-1 ready? We disagree

Brilliant startup founders with real traction are told they don’t meet the O-1 criteria, often by attorneys unfamiliar with early-stage entrepreneurship. But in our experience at Deel Immigration, “no” usually means “not yet,” or simply “not understood correctly.”

Take Vicki Guan’s case. She approached Deel Immigration after being turned away by multiple lawyers who said her achievements weren’t sufficient. Our team re-evaluated her track record of building something impactful beyond company metrics and reframed her narrative in a way USCIS could recognize. She secured her O-1 visa within months.

Her advice to other immigrant startup founders is this:

How can you strengthen your O-1 profile based on each criterion?

1. Judging

Judging the work of peers in your field, either individually or on a panel. This criterion is likely the easiest for startup founders to meet. If you went through an accelerator or incubator or are funded by VC firms, you can reach out to your contacts and express your willingness to serve on a judging panel for an upcoming event, such as a hackathon.

You can also qualify by reviewing accelerator applications, venture capital investment choices, or even academic papers if you’re in a scientific field. Even internal VC investment committees can count if you helped screen or vote on deal flow. If you’re affiliated with a venture studio or LP-backed fund, ask if your name appears on internal reports or feedback summaries.

Ensure you have documentation that shows you judged your peers, such as emails from the organization, flyers with your name, photos from the event, or a website listing you as a judge.

The more context-rich and process-driven your proof is, the stronger your case will be.

If your evidence is substantial but scattered, Deel’s immigration lawyers can help you co-draft airtight evidence. We map each event and document against O-1 criteria, write expert memos to frame your role, and collaborate with industry referees to validate your participation, so your judging credentials tell the strongest possible story.

2. Published material

Published media about you is one of the strongest ways to support your O-1 petition. Think press features, interviews, or profiles in major outlets like The New York Times, Forbes, CNN, TechCrunch, or Times of India.

Smaller publications can work too—as long as they have strong circulation. To determine circulation, check out SimilarWeb. The higher the circulation, the more impressive it will be to USCIS. Look for a monthly circulation in the tens of thousands, ideally hundreds of thousands or millions.

Aim for coverage in outlets with tens of thousands of monthly visitors or more. Non-English articles are fine, but you’ll need certified translations. And don’t forget to collect screenshots, URLs, and traffic metrics. Focus on articles that highlight you, not just your company, though company coverage with your name in it can still help.

3. Membership

To qualify under the membership category, you must show that you’ve been accepted into a selective organization. Aim for groups with competitive acceptance rates, like On Deck, Forbes Business Council, IEEE, American Society of Mechanical Engineers, and Association for Computing Machinery.

Accelerator programs like Y Combinator and Techstars don’t meet this requirement on their own, but they can help bolster other categories, such as Critical Role or Original Contributions. If you’re already in an accelerator, consider pairing that with a recognized professional membership to strengthen your case.

4. Critical employment

To qualify under this category, you’ll need to show two things:

• That your role is essential
• That the company you lead (or work at) is recognized for its achievements

As a founder, your critical role is usually clear. What matters next is showing that your company is making an impact.

If you’re early-stage, start building visibility through press coverage, accelerator acceptances, or grant awards. These signals help establish company credibility while supporting other O-1 categories like published materials. Traction metrics like user growth, product adoption, partnerships, and funding rounds boost your case.

At Deel Immigration, we help founders strengthen this category by including peer review and investor endorsement letters during the vetting process itself. Our 24/7 immigration team knows how to show how central your leadership truly is. We also help structure your team org charts, track traction milestones, and align every document to USCIS’s expectations, so your case lands with clarity.

5. Original contributions

To meet this criterion, we must show that you’ve built or contributed something original that moved your field forward. For many founders, that’s the underlying tech, product innovation, or unique business model powering their startup.

While patents are strong evidence, they aren’t the only way to prove impact. White papers, business plans, user growth metrics, or expert letters can all help establish that your work is not just new, but significant. We can also include past contributions at previous companies if they demonstrate originality and reach.

6. High remuneration

To meet the high remuneration criterion, you must show that your compensation stands out compared to others in the same role and city. This includes your past or current salary, bonuses, and equity, especially if you’re leading a new startup. A strong cash salary carries more weight, but equity can help round out your case.

Use tools like Glassdoor, Salary.com, and Indeed to benchmark your pay against top earners in your field. If you recently closed a funding round, now might be a good time to adjust your salary upward. Just make sure it’s consistent; raising it temporarily for the visa could raise flags later.

7. Awards

Nationally or internationally recognized prizes or awards for excellence in your field
Strengthening your awards criteria quickly can be challenging, but there are strategies to consider. The strongest awards are those offered to you as an individual. We must show that these awards are “nationally or internationally recognized” and awarded for your “excellence in the field.”

Examples include a Stevie Award or a Forbes 30 Under 30 award. As a startup founder, we can argue that any awards or accolades your company has received are also your awards, including raising venture capital funding or traditional awards like a World Economic Forum New Champions award or Africa Tech Awards.

Moreover, if you are associated with VC or accelerator funding, it alone rarely satisfies the awards criterion under current USCIS interpretations. To strengthen your profile, combine your funding milestones with individual honors, like finalist placements in pitch competitions or recognition from industry bodies. Use VC funding more effectively to support the Critical Role or Original Contributions categories, where its impact is more directly relevant.

Struggling to prepare all this on your own? You’re not alone, and you don’t have to be. Deel Immigration bundles expert reviews, document prep, and immigration strategy into one clean workflow. Just ask Quinn Litherland, founder of Authentic. After hitting roadblocks with other platforms, he turned to Deel Immigration. The team reviewed his case, assembled the right documents, and managed the entire filing process. His visa was approved in a matter of days.

8. Scholarly articles

Publishing articles is a strong way to show achievement in your field for your O-1 visa application. While peer-reviewed journals help, startup founders often meet this criterion through bylines in outlets like Forbes, TechCrunch, or Harvard Business Review.

If you’ve published on your own blog or Substack, that can count too. Just be ready to share traffic stats like screenshots from Google Analytics or Plausible Analytics. Not published yet? Start pitching to industry media or startup platforms. Write about trends, share lessons from your journey, or spotlight your team’s innovation.

Strengthen your O-1 profile with Deel Immigration

If you’re serious about pursuing the O-1 visa process, now is the time to talk to Deel’s immigration team and start early.

Deel Immigration makes O-1 applications smoother, smarter, and more successful. Our team of legal experts, former consular officers, and startup-savvy advisors works with you to identify qualifying criteria, fill evidence gaps, and build a narrative that clicks with US citizen and immigration services.

Whether you’re just exploring eligibility, refining your portfolio, or converting your O-1B into a green card, a free consultation with us can save months of guesswork and put your petition on the right track.