Dr. William:

My employer is now considering to apply O-1 visa or H-1B visa for me. What are the major advantages of O-1 visa over H-1B visa? Can my wife work in U.S. legally if I am in O-1 status?

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Answer:

For the advantage of O-1 visa, there is no annual cap on the number of O-1 visa petitions the USCIS can approve each year, and there is no maximum number of years one can stay in O-1 status. Unlike H-1B, an O-1 visa petition does not require the Labor Condition Application (LCA) to be filed with the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL). 

However, an O-1 filing requires that aliens with extraordinary ability in arts to obtain an advisory opinion from a relevant peer group, which may sometimes be difficult to identify. Also, both H-1B and O-1 require an offer of employment and neither H-4 nor O-3 dependents are allowed to work in the U.S.