Can my own company sponsor me for an O-1 visa?
There is no self-petition for an O-1. The petition must be filed by a U.S. employer or a U.S. agent, not by the beneficiary. But a company you own can be the petitioner, and that is how many founders hold O-1 status.
What USCIS looks for is a genuine employer-beneficiary relationship rather than a company that exists only on paper. The company should be a real operating entity, and the petition should show that the petitioner has the right to control the terms and conditions of the beneficiary's employment. For beneficiary-owned companies, corporate governance, investor oversight, board authority, or other evidence of independent control may be important.
A single-member company where the beneficiary exercises complete control over the business can present additional challenges, so the structure is worth evaluating before the petition is filed.
The alternative is the agent route, where a U.S. agent files the petition on the beneficiary's behalf — see working for more than one employer.
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It is possible, and it is often harder than using an established company, for a reason that has nothing to do with your own record: the petition has to show that the company can employ you and has real work for you to perform.
A new company has little or no operating history to point to, so the case is built from what exists instead — incorporation and ownership documents, funding, signed contracts, a business plan describing the role, and an itinerary where the engagements are external. Expect the petition to be read for whether the company is a bona fide operating business rather than merely a registered entity.
Your own evidence is judged no differently because the petitioner is a startup. What changes is the employer side of the petition, which is why a thin company record is worth addressing before filing.
See how your own record reads.
We research what is publicly findable about your work and read it against the O-1 and EB-1A criteria, with a source behind every finding. Two to four minutes, and no email to start.