NIW Approval for Self-Employed Wrestling Coach of Exceptional Ability

Facts

The client was an Olympian champion wrestler with a successful wrestling school in the U.S. and a long history of F-1 visas, H-1B and O-1 status approvals. A previously filed EB-1 case prepared by another firm resulted in a typical EB-1 denial over the issue of extraordinary ability as a coach vs extraordinary ability as an athlete. The client desperately wanted to become a permanent resident together with his wife because they have lived in the U.S. for many years and had two young U.S. citizen children. 

Strategy

I decided to file an exceptional ability National Interest Waiver self-petition under the Matter of New York State Department of Transportation criteria (NYSDOT). (When told about this strategy over a friendly lunch, a senior partner of one of the largest and most distinguished U.S. immigration law firms thought that it would never work).

For the national scope of employment prong, I argued that the client produces dozens of U.S. national champions who train and compete throughout the U.S.; that his students come from multiple states and then continue their wrestling careers at numerous college and university programs and private clubs throughout the U.S.; that the client’s school produces members of the U.S. national wrestling team; and, that the client’s consulting expertise is sought-after by college and university coaching programs and private clubs nationwide. For the national interest prong, I focused on the client’s achievements as a coach, on his contributions to U.S. wrestling, on the fact that his self-employment bars alien labor certification, on the fact that his club’s effective coaching of hundreds of talented kids outweighs the need to protect very few U.S. workers who could potentially complete for his job. 

Results

Remarkably, this NIW approval was achieved in only 27 days. 

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