 Hey, this video is not for my usual subscribers per se. It's for anyone like me who was not born in America but knows in their heart, they are born to live in America. There's a lot of roots and roads, dead ends on this journey and that's why for me, an immigration lawyer was my only hope. If you are in the same spot, stuff where you are but also certain where you wanna go, then I made this video for you. I'm currently on an 01 visa which expires in September and instead of applying for an extension, I'm taking a leap of faith on myself and applying for an EB-1, which is permanent residency. This is not a promo video or a paid sponsorship video and unfortunately, I'm uploading this too late in my application process to get any referral fees. I'm doing this because if like me, you know where you're meant to be but just don't know how to get there, I hope this helps. Till at least 9.35, like 10 minutes, do you think is enough, Shannon? I'm sure that that's 10 minutes, it's gonna feel like an hour, I'm sure. Okay, so at least try not to buzz at all until after 9.35. Okay, thank you. Okay, are we on? Yes, we're on. Okay. That was a perfect intro too, because it's like you're so busy, you're still at the end. I'm here with Kate Rayner who is the owner of Kate Rayner Associates. Thank you. You birthed me. I'm the American, Shannon. So I wanna know a little bit about what you guys do here. Okay. I mean, I know, but they don't know. Okay, well, we are an immigration firm and it's full service, business immigration and family immigration, but majority of our case, as you know, are for the entertainment industry. So we do lots of 01 visas, which is what Shannon is on, which are visas for aliens with extraordinary ability. So that's what we do for actors, hosts, anyone who's really the best in their industry and also green cards for people who are the top in their field. So that's really what our firm is known for and what we specialize in. That's the scary part because I'm doing my green card right now. Even though Kate was like, you should probably do another 01. I'm like, no, I'm going to invest and take the risk. And so you guys will be with me on that journey as we do that. But I get a lot of questions about the 01 because there's so many people who I think are like me, who live in another country and dream of coming to America to make it happen. You use the word best in their field. I mean, what does that mean? How do you qualify as the best? Okay, well, we basically look at your history and we need to see that you have significant achievements in your field. So we'll look at, have you worked on distinguished projects or worked with distinguished organizations? We look at whether you have media attention. So if you have newspaper, magazine or internet articles or interviews or reviews of something that you've done, we'll also look at if you have awards in your field. That's a good indicator that you're at the top. We usually ask for letters of recommendation from distinguished people in your field. They'll also look at whether you've either had commercial success, like your projects have made a lot of money or whether they've gotten great reviews. So they were critically acclaimed. And last but not least, what makes the US great is have you made a lot of money? They look at, do you earn more than the typical person in your field? So those are generally the six different factors that they look at to determine if you are at the top of your field. Now, what is amazing about Kate Rainer, which is why I chose you guys, is you have an approval rate of what? It's around 99%. Around what? 99%. 99% of people that you guys take on end up getting this. Yes. I mean, because the overwhelming process is, I'm investing all this money. I mean, and how do you get to that kind of percentile? Well, I've been doing it almost 20 years, so we definitely have a lot of experience and know what immigration is looking for. I think another thing is we're very honest with people. If someone doesn't qualify at all for the visa, we'll let them know. We won't not take their case, but we will work with them until they're ready for us to take their case. Like, we'll let someone know you're not ready to apply now, but these are the things you can do to make yourself ready maybe for the following year or the year after that to apply. And then for the people whose cases we do take, you know, we really make sure that their documentation is correct, that they build the strongest case possible. Yeah, and that's how we do it. Yeah, because I honestly have to say, like, I had an amazing experience here. And we talked about this, like I worked with an amazing paralegal who was just so attentive and what made my case fun, I think, is having that relationship with somebody. So how many different people do you have working in the office and how does the work get kind of dipping out? Right. We have 25 people working here, but we all work as a team and I think that's the thing that is so important. We have meetings all the time. We really make sure that all of our staff is in touch with each other and we see trends right away because we file so many cases. If we see questions coming up or if we come up with ideas, we all share our ideas and we never have one person working on an application. So even though we try and always have that personal relationship with you, when we're here, we all work as a team and we'll talk about if there's an issue with the case or if there's something different. What's really exciting now with people like you on the internet, there's all, or all the sexologists, all these great new things that people are doing. And so it's not always inside the box, like just an actor or a director or a host, but all these amazing people that we're meeting and so sometimes new issues come up or new ideas and we all share it and work as a team. I love how you're excited about that. I'd be like, oh my God, stress is new. It's really fun because it's not, we just meet all types of interesting people and for me it's always interesting to have someone who's a little bit outside the box. We do the same all the time after as directors, producers, writers, and so sometimes it's different. You get to meet really interesting and exciting people because that's generally the type of people that are applying for these visas. So somebody with a high following on YouTube, like now, does social media following count? Absolutely and that's a great new occupation or job title is social media influencer. Really? Yes, because it's great because you guys are reaching so many people and hopefully we are today reaching lots of people and we have clients that are teenagers and more people read what they read on the internet than read the LA Times. So that's the way of the future and that's what at least young people, if not all people, where they're getting their information and so having a million followers or having a million views, I mean it doesn't even need to be exactly a million but just saying having large amounts of people that are viewing you and liking you in itself makes you extraordinary because it means that you are a powerful influence online and sometimes there's a combination people are a social media influencer and they also have another talent that's what got them that following but sometimes their talent is just people are interested in what they have to say then obviously there's some importance to the message. Yes, I mean this is gonna sound like a sales pitch but I genuinely like, this was the first firm that I called and I got a, I think it was like a one hour consultation on the phone and I didn't pay anything and it was an awesome experience and the person was upfront honest with me and they told me exactly what I needed and what I had the I had to improve on. It took me a year to actually apply just because I was collecting all the materials so for anybody who's watching this video and is afraid and it's like, oh, I'm not ready to take the first step. Like, can you ease them into what does the first step mean here at Kate Rainer? Well, of course, the first step is always a consultation where we can determine if they qualify for the visa and the next step is like you said, gathering the documents. I think that's the most time consuming part because once you give us the documents we can usually get the visa in just a couple of months. So the main thing is for you really to understand what you need and to start making sure that you have your press and materials that if you're an actor that you have screenshots from your different performances and letters of recommendation and proof of any achievements or if you're in another field, whatever it is, whether you're an athlete or a writer just proof of your achievements. So a lot of times it's just going back and collecting documents and reaching out to people who can write letters for you. So the consultation call is always free, right? Yeah, the consultation is free and we start with the consultation and then we'll talk to you about the cost and how long the procedure takes and what the visa will allow you to do once you're here and then from there you'll go out and collect all your information and when you're ready come back to start. Okay, so specifically for the 01, what are the different categories that you can apply under? I know I applied under host, but there's also actor. It's not limited by category, it's whatever your field is. So it can be in any occupation if you can show that you have extraordinary achievement then you can get the visa. Like a nurse? Yeah, if you would have nursing awards and articles and nursing magazines, it can really be anything. A nurse could get an 01, absolutely. I didn't know that. Yeah. Okay, so social media influencers kind of like the newest vein of the entertainment side of things, though. Yeah, absolutely. Awesome. And so if you probably get a thousand calls to people who are coming to you and want to take that step but they're afraid, what advice do you give to somebody who like me has done the work but is just afraid that it's just not enough? Right, well my advice would definitely be to come in for consultation because you might think that you don't have enough but maybe you do. And even if you don't have enough to qualify for the visa, at least we can put you in the right direction because there's things you can do to make your case stronger. You know, if you haven't talked to an attorney you don't know that those things are important like maybe going to red carpet events and doing interviews on the red carpet or taking photos on set or staying in touch with people who can write you letters of recommendation. There's ways to reach out to media outlets to get press. So there's a lot of things you can do once you have that information to get you ready faster. So I think a lot of people don't think they're ready and then it turns out they are ready and some people aren't ready but can get ready. That's awesome. Okay, well thank you so much. I wanna tell everybody that if you have not done this or you've ever thought about going to coming to America like this is just the first step. I mean you might take another route but like for me this was the first step and it was where I felt firmest and it's where I'm now going to run. Yeah, I'm running now. Well I'm really excited for this next step and I'm very confident that everything is gonna go great and thank you so much. That's for promising me. You heard that right? I was on camera, she promised. Wherever you're at in life no matter how unlikely the variables seem you have to throw everything in and when you throw everything in you will stand there naked, cold, vulnerable and starving. You will stand there with nothing but when you get that little bit back in return the feeling that you will receive