Jumpstart Immigration reports rising interest in the O-1 extraordinary ability visa among OPT and H-1B workers facing shrinking odds and shorter runways.
Every year, thousands of international tech professionals graduate from US universities on Optional Practical Training (OPT) with a 60-day window to secure employer sponsorship. Many who make it onto H-1B still face a lottery with odds that have grown worse for recent graduates under salary-based selection rules. Jumpstart Immigration, a San Francisco-based AI-powered immigration platform, says a growing number of engineers, researchers, and product leaders are bypassing that bottleneck altogether through the O-1 visa for individuals with extraordinary ability.
Unlike H-1B, the O-1 has no annual cap and no lottery. It does not depend on a single employer’s willingness to sponsor, and it can be renewed indefinitely. Candidates qualify by showing evidence of achievement in their field, such as original technical contributions, media coverage, judging or peer review work, or a track record of high compensation relative to peers, rather than by winning a random draw. The category has grown accordingly. USCIS completed nearly 32,000 O-category petitions in fiscal year 2025, up from about 22,000 in fiscal year 2020, and STEM-related O-1A approvals alone jumped 33% between fiscal years 2022 and 2023 as more technical professionals turned to the pathway.
“Most tech professionals rule themselves out of the O-1 before they even look into it, because they assume extraordinary ability means Nobel Prize territory,” said Fabiano Rocha, CEO and co-founder of Jumpstart Immigration. “In practice, we see software engineers, ML researchers, and designers qualify regularly, once they document the impact they already have. For someone on OPT with 60 days on the clock, or on H-1B watching the lottery odds shrink every cycle, this is often the more reliable path, not the exotic one.”
Jumpstart has processed over 1,300 immigration cases with a 98% approval rate, and reports that O-1 applications for candidates with a strong evidence portfolio can move from filing to approval in under two months, compared to the multi-year uncertainty many face on the employer-sponsored track.
The shift comes as recent H-1B rule changes have made outcomes less predictable for entry-level applicants, while OPT’s fixed window continues to push new graduates toward faster decisions. Jumpstart’s data suggests the O-1 is increasingly used not as a last resort, but as a primary strategy for tech professionals planning their long-term stay in the US.
About Jumpstart Immigration Jumpstart Immigration is an AI-powered immigration platform based in San Francisco, specializing in extraordinary ability visas (O-1, EB-1A, EB2-NIW) for global tech talent. Founded by Fabiano Rocha, Bianca Junqueira, and Nhu-Y Le, Jumpstart has supported more than 1,250 immigrants through their US immigration process, with a 98% approval rate. Learn more at gojumpstart.com.
