O-2 Essential Support Personnel for an O-1 Artist or Athlete
O-2 is for the person whose assistance is an integral part of an O-1A athlete's or O-1B artist's performance, and whose critical skills and experience with that specific O-1 cannot readily be supplied by a US worker. It has no independent life: it exists only alongside a specific O-1 petition. It does not extend to O-1A scientists, educators or business people.
- Срок
- Up to three years initially, but in practice limited to the time needed for the event or activity supporting the O-1. Admission covers the petition validity plus up to 10 days before and after, with work authorised only inside the validity.
- Продление
- Increments of up to one year, to continue or complete the same event or activity, on a fresh Form I-129. The O-2's validity cannot outrun the O-1's.
- Работа
- Yes, incident to status, but only in the support role for the specific O-1 beneficiary named in the petition, for the petitioning employer or agent. An O-2 cannot be reassigned to a different O-1 without a new petition.
- Двойное намерение
- false - unlike the O-1, an O-2 must maintain a foreign residence they have no intention of abandoning. This is the sharpest practical difference between the two.
- Члены семьи
- Spouse and unmarried children under 21 get O-3 status for the same period. They may study but may not work.
- Путь к грин-карте
- No built-in route, and the foreign residence requirement makes O-2 the least green-card-friendly of the O series. Support personnel who want to stay usually need an employer to sponsor them through PERM into EB-2 or EB-3, or need to qualify for O-1 in their own right.
- Срок рассмотрения
- Adjudicated alongside the O-1 petition. Regular processing runs several months; premium processing at $2,965 gives 15 business days and is normal for touring and production crews. Consular waits apply as for O-1.
Кто подходит
- Support personnel whose assistance is an integral part of an O-1 artist's or athlete's performance
- People with critical skills and experience with that particular O-1 beneficiary, not of a general nature
- For motion picture and television, people whose skills are critical because of a pre-existing longstanding working relationship, or because significant production takes place both inside and outside the United States and their continuing participation is essential
- Typical roles include coaches, trainers, tour and production crew, personal technicians and long-standing collaborators
Требования
- A separate Form I-129 from the O-1's, filed by the same employer or agent in connection with the O-1's services
- Evidence of current essentiality, critical skills and substantial prior experience with the specific O-1 beneficiary
- A consultation from the appropriate labour organisation; for motion picture and television also from a management organisation
- For film and television, evidence that significant production has taken place outside and will take place inside the United States
- Only available in support of an O-1 artist or athlete, not an O-1A scientist, educator or business person
- A residence abroad you have no intention of abandoning
Как подать
- 1
Confirm the principal is an O-1 artist or athlete; O-2 is not available in support of an O-1A scientist, educator or business person
- 2
File a separate Form I-129 for the O-2, alongside the O-1's, from the same employer or agent
- 3
Document the prior working relationship, the critical skills and why a US worker cannot readily do the job
- 4
Obtain the labour organisation consultation, plus a management organisation consultation for film and television
- 5
Up to 25 O-2 beneficiaries can be grouped on a single petition, which matters for crews
- 6
File at least 45 days before the start date and no more than a year ahead
- 7
Complete Form DS-160, pay the $205 MRV fee and interview in your country of nationality or residence
- 8
Be ready to show ties abroad, since O-2 unlike O-1 requires a foreign residence
Сборы и формы
| Form I-129, O petition | $1,055; $530 for a small employer of 25 or fewer full-time equivalent employees, or a nonprofit. Up to 25 beneficiaries may be included on one O-2 petition |
| Asylum Program Fee on Form I-129 | $600 regular petitioner, $300 small employer, $0 nonprofit |
| Form I-907 premium processing | $2,965 |
| MRV nonimmigrant visa application fee, petition-based tier | $205 |
| Form I-539 for O-3 dependants inside the United States | $470 paper, $420 online |
Что изменилось в 2025 и 2026 годах
- Jan. 8, 2025: USCIS policy alert PA-2025-02 revised the O evidentiary guidance at 2 USCIS-PM M.3, M.4 and M.9. The O-2 essentiality test and the pre-existing relationship test for film and television are unchanged in substance. There was no October 2023 Part M update.
- Aug. 4, 2025: USCIS policy alert PA-2025-14 revised Volume 2, Part M, Chapter 4 to implement Executive Order 14201 on women's sports. A male athlete competing against women is a negative factor; a male athlete who gained acclaim in men's sports and seeks to compete in women's sports is not continuing work in his area of extraordinary ability.
- Aug. 5, 2026: USCIS policy alert PA-2026-05 on evidence, requests for evidence and notices of intent to deny took effect immediately. USCIS may now deny a benefit request outright, without first issuing an RFE or NOID, where the required initial evidence was not submitted with the filing. RFE response time is capped at 84 calendar days plus three mailing days, and the extra 14 days formerly given for international correspondence is gone. This raises the cost of a thin initial O filing considerably.
- O adjudication tightened sharply across the period. On USCIS's own Form I-129 quarterly data, the O denial rate rose from 6.1 percent in FY 2025, on 31,681 completions, to 8.9 percent in the first half of FY 2026, on 14,658 completions. The RFE rate rose from 19.7 percent to 24.8 percent over the same span, with the inflection in mid-2025.
- Oct. 1, 2025: the interview waiver rollback announced Sept. 18, 2025 took effect and superseded the July 25, 2025 guidance. Almost every nonimmigrant applicant now needs an in-person interview. The standing carve-outs are A-1, A-2, C-3 other than personal staff, G-1 through G-4, NATO-1 through NATO-6, TECRO E-1, diplomatic and official visas, and 12-month renewals of B-1/B-2, Mexican border crossing cards and H-2A. Waiver-eligible applicants must also apply in their country of nationality or residence, must never have been refused a visa unless overcome or waived, and must have no apparent ineligibility. The old under-14 and over-79 age exemptions were abolished. No further update has issued as of September 2026.
- July 15, 2026: State told nonimmigrant applicants to interview in their country of nationality or residence, or at the designated processing post if their country has no routine operations. Applying elsewhere is allowed but harder to qualify, the MRV fee is non-refundable and non-transferable, and waits are much longer. A, G, C-2, C-3, NATO and diplomatic applicants are exempt.
- Jan. 1, 2026: Presidential Proclamation 10998, signed Dec. 16, 2025, took effect at 12:01 a.m. EST and replaced Proclamation 10949 (signed June 4, 2025, effective June 9, 2025). It fully suspends visa issuance to nationals of 19 countries - Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Burma, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Laos, Libya, Mali, Niger, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria and Yemen - plus holders of Palestinian Authority travel documents, across every nonimmigrant and immigrant category. It only reaches people who were outside the United States and held no valid visa at 12:01 a.m. EST on Jan. 1, 2026; no earlier-issued visa was revoked under it. O is outside the partial suspension list, and PP 10998 excepts participants in certain major sporting events, which reaches some accompanying support staff.
- July 4, 2025: Public Law 119-21 added non-waivable immigration surcharges on top of normal filing fees. The ones that touch nonimmigrants are the Form I-94 fee, held at $24 for FY 2026, the parole fee, adjusted to $1,020 for FY 2026, parolee EAD surcharges of $560 initial and $280 renewal, and a statutory visa integrity fee of at least $250 on nonimmigrant visa issuance. The $250 visa integrity fee is enacted but unverified as collected: it appears nowhere on the State Department fee schedule as of September 2026 and no implementing rule has published.
- Current USCIS fee schedule, Form G-1055 edition 05/29/26: an O Form I-129 is $1,055 or $530 for a small employer or nonprofit, with up to 25 beneficiaries per O-2 petition, plus the Asylum Program Fee.
Где чаще всего ошибаются
- Trying to bring support staff for an O-1A scientist, educator or business person. O-2 does not cover them.
- Generic job descriptions. The skills must be critical and specific to this O-1 beneficiary, not to the industry.
- Forgetting the second consultation for motion picture and television petitions.
- Filing the O-2 on the same Form I-129 as the O-1. They must be separate petitions.
- Overlooking the foreign residence requirement, which O-1 does not have and O-2 does.
- Letting an O-2 keep working after the O-1's engagement ends or the O-1 changes employer.
- Assuming an O-2 can move to a different artist or athlete without a new petition.
Также в категории Extraordinary ability
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