It’s very easy to think that the words extraordinary and exceptional are easily interchangeable. However, for US immigration purposes, each of these words has distinct meanings.

Exceptional Ability : In essence this refers to people who have advanced skills, persons who have advanced degrees such as a Masters Degree, Law degree, doctors, etc, people. These are people who have acquired exceptional abilities. However, these exceptional abilities will not qualify a person for the coveted O-1 visa or, as will be discussed below, priority worker status (EB1).

Extraordinary Ability : The legal term extraordinary ability seeks to identify those persons who have reach the very top of their professions. In other words, extraordinary ability might be reserved for the chief engineer, chief surgeon, and principal lecturer. Extraordinary ability in the arts could be someone who has had several hit records on popular music, or is highly regarded in their artistic field as someone who is at the top of their profession due to critical acclaim. Maybe that person gets invited to play at nationally acclaimed events, such as, The Royal Albert Hall in London , or is regularly invited to perform for national dignitaries because of their extraordinary talent / ability. Very few musicians get signed to a major record label, possibly less that 1% in fact. In addition to reaching the top of your profession, in most cases but not all, the success has to be sustained to some degree. Athletes, who play or compete in a professional or amateur national league may be considered at the top of their field.

Entertainers Visa Guide: O1