Kym here. Our longest Journey masterclass, two and a half hours, is on the O-1B visa, taught by Elke Osadnik, an immigration advisor who went through it herself as an actress.
Read this first. This page is general information, not legal advice. Elke says it herself in the class: she is not an attorney, and this is guidance. Rules, wording and fees change constantly, and the class was recorded on one particular date. Check anything you are about to act on with a current US immigration attorney who specialises in this visa.
Here is what the class covers.
The O-1B, sometimes described as the visa for people of extraordinary ability in the arts. There is also an O-1A, which is for technical and science fields. Similar visa, wrong one for actors.
Then there is a split inside the O-1B itself: one for acting and one for the arts, which is theatre. With the O-1B for acting you can still do theatre. With the O-1B for theatre you cannot do film, TV, commercials or anything on screen. They cost the same and take the same time, so the class is blunt: the acting version is the one you want.
The question to ask any attorney is simple. Are you looking at my theatre credits? If yes, you are being put up for the arts version.
No, and the class is emphatic about this. Nobody in this system is assessing your performances. This is a government body assessing papers.
Elke was once told flatly by an agent that she would never work in the US. Her first reaction was that she was being called a bad actor. Her second was that everything is process.
It cuts both ways. A knockback is not a review of you. And talent alone will not carry a thin case, because the case is made of credits.
The class calls out one myth directly: that you need about five or seven IMDb credits. Not true. It is the quality of the credit, and the easiest way to think about quality is the size of the audience that saw you.
At the top end: a supporting role in a feature entered into the Academy sends the weight of that credit through the roof. At the bottom end: the best performance of your life in a short film that never leaves your living room has little or no weight.
For television, an attorney will tend to want something recurring, maybe two or three episodes. One co-star is typically not enough, unless the attorney can hook that episode to the size of the show and where it streams.
Commercials can be a lifeline. In Australia there are fewer networks, so a lot of people see a national spot, and a brand immigration officers already know helps. Genuine voiceover credits count too, though they tend to pepper a case rather than be the big bang.
Free masterclass: if reading this made your stomach drop, that reaction is worth looking at before you spend a cent on an attorney. Clear Your Subconscious Blocks and Thrive is Journey 3, free, permanently.
The ones that will be seen. When you reach a callback or final consideration on a self submitted project, ask:
What do you want to do with the film? What’s your post-production schedule? When are you releasing the film? What festivals? Who’s in charge of submitting it to the festivals?
You look more professional for asking, and the answers tell you whether the filmmakers are serious.
On festivals, a film has to have been accepted, not just submitted, and normally into two or more before it is usable. The calibre being discussed is Venice, Berlin, Toronto, South by Southwest and the Academy’s short film category.
On making your own work: do it for one credit only. If immigration sees the same name as producer, writer, director, casting and star, they will notice the only person casting you is you.
Press is the one area the class says you can and should start on today, because press does not go out of date the way everything else does.
Judge a publication by audience, the same way you judge a credit. Online video counts: a music video Elke did for free for a suicide prevention cause passed 60 million views.
Now the part most actors get wrong. The article has to hit specific words. You need to be referred to as an extraordinary talent, an extraordinary actor, an extraordinarily talented actor. You also need lead or leading in there, as in lead role or leading a cast. Pivotal is another word you can add.
What you cannot be called is a rising star, the next big thing, or a star in the making. Anything that implies you are not there yet works against you, because this visa is for the person who has arrived.
Elke kept a shoebox of press from her twenties, and a chunk of it was unusable because the wording was wrong. Start using the right wording in everything you put out.
No. The wording is set by immigration and can change every couple of months, so letters collected early are likely to be irrelevant by the time you file. Building the case is the attorney’s job.
What you can do now is make sure the right people know you. A letter’s weight comes from who is writing it, and a smart attorney will ask for a cross section: casting directors, producers, a writer, a teacher, a director.
And never add to the embellishment. Do not claim you were the lead when you were not, because it is trivially easy to disprove.
A deal memo is, in other words, a work contract for a particular duration. Its purpose is to show immigration that you will be working and paying taxes rather than needing support.
Three years is the maximum for one term, and what tends to get through now is two or three sequential deal memos adding up to about three years. Gaps of two or three months are fine.
Here is the consequence people miss. The duration your deal memos add up to is the duration of the visa you get. Elke met people with seven month and nine month O-1s, and the answer was the length of their deal memos. Then they were back at the start, at another six or seven thousand dollars.
Deal memos come from people you know who hire overseas talent, so start collecting those contacts years out. Immigration will look every company up.
Start when you think you might have enough credits, not before.
Use a US based attorney, not an Australia based one, and one whose bread and butter is the O-1B, because this is a narrative based visa and your attorney has to be an exceptional writer.
Ask for a case assessment, which many do for free. Speak to at least three and listen for the through line.
Then ask every one of them, in writing:
If I was to hire you, could you send me an email that outlines every single statutory cost - printing, filing, faxing, photocopying, FedExing - and what the optional extras are, and what I could do myself to save money?
On money, the class’s range at the time of recording was anywhere between five and a half and seven and a half thousand US dollars, and filing fees go up every year. Someone quoting $1,500 is a red flag.
Do not take attorney names from Facebook or expat groups. And do not chase a US agent until you have the visa, because an agent who submits you without one is showing inexperience.
The full 2.5 hour class, plus Journey 10A on relocating, is in every SAS plan with the other 16 masterclasses. Start your 7-day free trial.
The O-1A is for technical and science fields. The O-1B is for the arts and entertainment, and it has two versions: O-1B for the arts (theatre) and O-1B for acting (film, TV, commercials, everything on screen). The acting version still lets you do theatre; the theatre version blocks screen work. Ask which one you are being put up for.
There is no number. The class says the five or seven credits idea is a myth. Credits are weighed by audience size: a supporting role in a feature entered into the Academy, a recurring TV role, a national commercial or a major streamer title carry weight. A short nobody saw carries little. General information, not legal advice.
The class’s range, at the date it was recorded, was roughly US$5,500 to US$7,500 depending on what the attorney does, and it notes statutory filing fees rise every year. Get every cost itemised in writing before you hire anyone, and treat a $1,500 quote as a red flag. Check current figures with an attorney.
Up to three years in one term, but the class stresses the approved length matches what your deal memos add up to. Sequential deal memos totalling about three years get three years; deal memos covering seven or nine months get seven or nine months. Renewals start six months before expiry, from inside the US.
Press from publications with a real audience that describes you as an extraordinary talent or extraordinarily talented actor, in a lead, leading or pivotal role. Never “rising star” or “the next big thing”, because the visa is for someone who has arrived. Press is the one thing the class says to start banking now.
All 18 Journey masterclasses, over 26 hours, come with every SAS plan, along with 3,000+ videos, regular guest instructor classes and a community that includes actors who have made the move. 7-day free trial on Silver and Gold, 60-day refund always. General information only; SAS does not give legal advice.