Case parameters
Filing: July 11, 2025
Decision: July 29, 2025
Attorney: LighthouseHQ
Timeline: From filing to visa approval - 1 month
How it went
I finally got around to writing everything down. It all started at the end of February 2025. I had already been living in Israel for over four years and wasn’t planning to move — I worked online. But at some point the company really wanted me to relocate 
So I only learned about all those H1-B, O-1A, EB-1 things this spring.
April 23 — first call with the lawyers (the company paid for lawyers from LighthouseHQ). Right after the call I sent them a three-page document with hypotheses about what in my resume would meet the criteria.
April 24 — they replied that my achievements were sufficient to file the petition. But I decided I wanted to see San Francisco with my own eyes before starting the process.
In May we went there for a couple of weeks (we’d also been dealing with a tourist visa in February–March, but that’s off-topic).
May 26 I told the lawyers I was ready to start; they sent a payment invoice and a bunch of forms to fill out.
May 26 – July 11 we prepared the petition with them. They filed only 5 out of the 8 criteria, saying it was enough and they preferred only rock-solid proven criteria.
July 11 — we submitted the petition (we paid for premium processing).
July 29 — an approval email arrived; we requested a scan of the I-907 from them.
August 5 — they sent the I-907 scan.
August 6 — scheduled the visa appointment at the consulate in Tel Aviv.
August 11 — we applied for the visa and got approval, without administrative processing. My wife and daughter applied as well; I was granted O-1, they received O-3. Everything went pretty fast. From entering the consulate to exiting took only about an hour to an hour and a half. The interview itself was very short, literally about five minutes. They asked the city where I would work, the company name, position, and salary. They asked why I’m “extraordinary”, but I managed to answer in one sentence and they moved on.
They asked how many years ago we moved from Russia to Israel. I suspect this was the most important question for administrative processing
August 14 — we picked up the passports.
August 19 — I flew out.
August 20 — I entered the U.S. My family hasn’t arrived yet; they’re packing, but I suspect there shouldn’t be any problem for them to enter on O-3 after my entry on O-1.
From the moment of paying the lawyer to entry was just under three months. From the moment of filing the petition to visa approval was exactly one month.
Author of the story
Mikhail Rubinchik (@mikhailrubinchik), from the chat @talentvisahelp. Original message in the chat.
Useful resources on the topic
All information about O-1 / EB-1A / EB-2 NIW
More success stories and denials: channel @o1eb1