EB1- Commercial Successes in the Arts

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EB1 Green Card – (x) Commercial Success in the Performing Arts

Welcome to our EB1 green card presentation series.

In this presentation, we’re going to focus on the EB1 green card category ‘Commercial Success in the Performing Arts’.

The actual official wording of this category is:

(x) Evidence of commercial successes in the performing arts, as shown by box office receipts or record, cassette, compact disk, or video sales.

You may recall from the EB1 green card introductory presentation where I summarized each of the categories, I rephrased this category as follows:

(x) Commercial Success – Could you provide or develop documentation to prove your work has enjoyed commercial successes in the performing arts, as shown by box office receipts or record, cassette, compact disk, or video sales?

We’ve highlighted “performing arts”, as these are key words that can be overlooked.

For EB1 green card purposes many clients have had a degree of commercial success in the performing arts. The key is determining whether the alien is sufficiently and closely associated with the cause of that success to persuade an EB1 green card adjudicator that the success was, in no small part, due to their contribution to the project. Some contributions are more readily accepted than others.  For example, let’s say you’re a lead actor in a hit TV show, film or play, then as long as your role is well credited and can show the gross receipts, ratings or rankings in a favorable light then we’re in good stead.

Similarly, if you are one part of a four-piece chart-topping band, then even if you’re the drummer or the keyboard player (as opposed to the lead singer) you can still claim equal billing, and thus earn EB1 green card credit.

The question becomes more subjective and open to persuasion as to whether people like a band’s sound engineer, who mixed your last platinum selling album, could also claim ‘evidence of commercial success”. We would argue ‘yes, possibly’, because the band’s sound is controlled by the sound engineer and thus has a direct contribution to the album selling well. The band is also a performing art. How about, if a band’s caterer tried to claim on this EB1 green card category on the basis that they were the caterers to the stars? We would argue ‘no’, because the caterer’s role has absolutely nothing to do with the production value of the product that has been commercially successful.

How far removed one can be from the direct performing art must be narrowly curtailed. Instead, the focus should be – the closer you can be tied to the commercial success the more likely you will be credited with having satisfied this category.

Authors of any successful performing art production should be automatically considered within this category.  Many best selling books have been turned into performance-based projects. These are some of the many interesting discussions we would need to have with you depending on the precise nature of your art.

Another general consideration we would be looking for are indicators such as the location of the performance: the local village hall, a pub, or bar, e.g., are not distinguished venues. However, performances on Broadway, Madison Square Garden, The Royal Albert Hall, the West End and O2, are some of the most prestigious locations and venues that would certainly have that ‘wow’ factor and commensurate commercial success.

This category is about reporting the commercial success as an indicator of the alien’s extraordinary ability – ‘show me the money’. There are many artists who are perhaps not that well known, they may not have won many or any awards, but their performances and productions have been commercially successful.

We also have to consider the relativity of the artist’s work in comparison to other artists in the same field. For example, a playwright may make significantly less money than a songwriter whose songs may have sold hundreds of thousands because of airplay. The goal here will be to ensure that the EB1 green card adjudicator does not purely look at a numerical amount of commercial success, but place the earnings in some relative context.

We hope you have enjoyed our review of these categories.

In the final presentation, we’d like to share some further thoughts with you to get you started.

Checkout these EB1 green card categories below. If you can satisfy three categories, then you may just qualify for your green card. Good luck.

EB1 – Green Card – Checklist Summary

EB1 – One Time International Award

EB1 – Visa Award Nomination or Win

EB1 – Invited Memberships

EB1 – Publications About You

EB1 – Participation on Judging Panel

EB1 – Innovation or Invention

EB1 – Published Scholarly Articles

B1 – Exhibitions and Showcases

EB1 – Leading or Critical Roles

EB1 – High Salary or Remuneration

EB1 – Commercial Success in Arts

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EB1 – Ok Let’s Get Started

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Immigration Law Offices of Chris M. Ingram

US Immigration Law Offices of Chris M. Ingram
Chris M. Ingram LL.M., ESQ – Immigration Attorney
Admitted in New York.
Practice Specializing in US Immigration Law
401 Wilshire Boulevard, 12th Floor,
Santa Monica,
California 90401
Tel: 310 496 4292

Specializing in the E2 Visa, EB1 Green Card, L-1A Visa and O1 Visa and K1 Visa Marriage-Based Immigration. Attorney Chris M. Ingram is dedicated to providing the very best in US Immigration legal representation. Enjoy our website.

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