I figure a good place to start this blog is with a description of how I came up with the name for it. So here goes…
I currently live in Manhattan and legally remain here until my visitor visa expires. In trying to figure out how I could stay and work in this fine country, I consulted a lawyer whose firm does the Visa work for our Canadian hockey players. Naïve moi (shout out to Canada’s two official languages) figured if hockey phenom Jerome Iginla could work in the States, I could too, right? I swear, I honestly thought our shared Canadian-ness was all that would be required.
My lawyer very gently (perhaps thinking I was slow) explained that the Canadian hockey players are in possession of O1-Visas. You see they are considered “Aliens of Extraordinary Ability”.
My lawyer then asked me the best question I have ever been asked.
Seriously. Ever.
“What is your extraordinary ability?” she asked without a hint of sarcasm, her inquiry entirely genuine.
I scanned my brain as quickly as I could for what might fit the bill. Suddenly my ability to ask THE perfect Jack Handy-esque deep question at a party seemed wholly insufficient to the task.
“I write”, I offered. She perked up. Her excitement was contagious until she followed up the best question I have ever heard with possibly one of the worst. “Have you had many books published or won any international awards?” she inquired.
You see, it turns out good ole’ American Customs and Immigration has a pretty specific idea of what constitutes “extraordinary”. They define “extraordinary ability” in the field of science, education, art, business or athletics as “a high level of achievement that is considerably above normal.” And they want PROOF. You know, the VERIFIABLE kind in the form of “contracts, awards, or nominations”.
And while Jerome Iginla and I are both proud, smiley Canadians, he’s got that small piece of hardware in the form of a gold medal from a little sporting event you may have witnessed called the Vancouver 2010 Olympics.
So if the only gold medal you’re wearing around your neck right now is of the gold foil chocolate variety, you may want to check out the O-1 Visa criteria to see if you qualify.
Despite the rigorous achievements required to obtain the O-1 Visa, the title remains “Alien of Extraordinary Ability” and not “Alien of Extraordinary Achievement” for a reason. It’s the American Dream in its purest form.
Even U.S. Immigration knows there is a vast difference between raw ability and achievement. How hard you work to bridge that gap is precisely what defines your ability to manifest your own American Dream.
Every single person has an extraordinary ability (or abilities). You may dance, play basketball or draw better than anyone. But extraordinary ability alone is not enough. Only those who get out there and test it, work fiercely, risk rejection and failure (and get up again when they inevitably fall)… those are the extraordinary ones. And their reward? The 0-1 Alien of Extraordinary Ability.
Or as I like to call it, the gold medal of immigration visas.
And so I will continue to work on developing my extraordinary alien ways so that I may someday hold the heavyweight title: “Alien of Extraordinary Ability”. Until such time, I offer this blog to celebrate all things extraordinary and hopefully inspire your own inner alien…
