At Least Half of All “Extraordinary Ability” Visas Are Going to Influencers, Including OnlyFans Models
China recruits top STEM talent globally through programs including the Thousand Talents Plan, focusing on AI researchers, quantum computing experts, semiconductor engineers, and biotechnology researchers. The U.S., by contyrast, issues extraordinary ability visas to TikTok creators, Instagram fitness models, OnlyFans creators, and YouTube personalities.
U.S. immigration lawyers report that social media influencers and OnlyFans models now constitute a large share of O-1B visa recipients, with some attorneys stating these digital creators represent 50 to 65 percent of their clientele.
The O-1B visa category was created in 1990 for individuals with extraordinary ability in the arts and entertainment. Follower counts, engagement metrics, and subscriber numbers are increasingly accepted as evidence of commercial success and extraordinary ability.
State Department data shows the U.S. issued 125,351 total O-1 visas between 2017 and 2024, though the government does not distinguish between O-1A visas for sciences, business, athletics, and education and O-1B visas for arts and entertainment, nor does it break down recipients by profession. USCIS data for fiscal year 2023 shows 9,490 O-1A approvals, with 4,560 going to STEM professionals. The number of O-1 visas granted annually increased more than 50 percent between 2014 and 2024.
Immigration attorneys interviewed by the Florida Phoenix stated that the shift toward digital creators accelerated after the COVID-19 pandemic. Lawyers noted that brand endorsements, online earnings, and public appearances now satisfy requirements originally designed for elite performers. OnlyFans applications specifically have declined since 2022 due to market oversaturation and competition from AI-generated content, but influencers across platforms including TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram continue to apply in large numbers.
The O-1 visa requires U.S. sponsorship. Applicants cannot self-petition. Influencers typically obtain sponsorship through three routes. The most common is U.S. agent sponsorship, where a talent management company, individual agent, or production company files the petition. The agent must provide a contract outlining terms and compensation, a detailed three-year itinerary of planned work including brand deals and appearances, business license and tax identification, and company credentials. Agent sponsorship allows work with multiple brands under one petition rather than being tied to a single employer.
Direct employer sponsorship is the second option, where a specific U.S. company sponsors the applicant but ties them to that employer. The third option, recently clarified by USCIS, allows influencers to create their own U.S. LLC or corporation that sponsors them, though this requires a legitimate employer-employee relationship with someone else having authority to terminate employment.
Applicants must meet at least three criteria from the statutory list to demonstrate extraordinary ability. These include receipt of nationally or internationally recognized awards, membership in elite professional associations requiring outstanding achievements, published material in major media about the applicant’s work, evidence of high compensation, commercial success demonstrated through box office receipts or sales, critical or essential capacity for distinguished organizations, or service as a judge of others’ work in the field.
Influencers and OnlyFans models typically prove eligibility through millions of followers on Instagram, TikTok, or YouTube, substantial revenue from platform earnings and brand deals, media coverage in major publications, contracts with major companies, and engagement metrics including views and likes. Immigration lawyer Jacob Sapochnick of San Diego reported that his first OnlyFans client in 2020 was earning $250,000 per month.
Most of the visas are going to applicants from India, but increasingly they are also going to influencers from China, Russia, and Canada, many of whom combine fitness influencing with OnlyFans.
This visa category was largely not intended for people who take nude photos, run fitness classes, or do porn online, but today many of these visas are going to such applicants. Defenders of the program argue that influencers benefit the country by paying taxes. However, the tax status of online influencers is complex, and not all influencers are required to pay, or actually pay, taxes on all of their income.
O-1 visa holders who meet the substantial presence test by spending 183 or more days in the U.S. become tax residents required to report worldwide income on Form 1040, pay U.S. taxes on all income including foreign-sourced revenue, file FBAR and Form 8938 if foreign accounts exceed $10,000, and pay self-employment tax of 15.3 percent plus regular income tax.
However, enforcement faces challenges. OnlyFans issues 1099 forms for U.S.-based income, but if creators are registered using home-country information or if payment processors route payments to foreign bank accounts, that income may not be properly reported to the IRS. If a creator is registered under home-country information before obtaining an O-1 visa, tracking income becomes significantly more difficult.
Just like the H-1B visa and derivative citizenship, this is an area President Trump needs to examine. There have been multiple examples of people on F-1 visas and other visa categories producing anti-U.S., pro–Chinese Communist Party, or pro–Islamic extremist content. It would be a slap in the face to every American if a popular pro-Hamas influencer were to receive an “extraordinary ability” visa.
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