How a Harvard Policy Expert Secured His O-1A to Join the Asia Society in New York

The offer was real, but until the visa came through it didn't feel real. The week it did, I packed and flew. New York went from a plan to home.

Kevin Li

Fellow @ Asia Society Policy Institute

Overview

Kevin Zongzhe Li works at the intersection of China and Southeast Asia, writing on the geopolitics of the energy transition and regional dynamics. A graduate of the Harvard Kennedy School, his analysis appears regularly in outlets read across Asia and Washington and reaches policymakers and researchers on both sides of the Pacific.

The Asia Society Policy Institute's Center for China Analysis, one of the leading centers for China research in the United States, offered him a Fellow position in New York. It was the seat his work had been building toward.

There was just one thing standing between the offer and the office. For someone with a record like Kevin's, the O-1A was the visa that fit. With a start date approaching and the petition on a tight timeline, Kevin wanted counsel who knew the category cold and could move quickly. That is when he reached out to Concord.

Challenge

The Only Visa That Fit

Kevin's career did not look like a textbook case. His evidence was built on published analysis and policy influence, not a stack of patents or product launches. The O-1A was the right path, but it had to be framed so that policy influence read as clearly as extraordinary ability in any other field.

Heightened Scrutiny on Researchers

O-1 petitions for researchers were drawing extra scrutiny at the time. That meant the petition could not afford a single soft spot. Every claim about Kevin's standing and impact had to be evidenced cleanly enough to hold up under a closer-than-usual read.

An RFE That Reset the Clock

The government issued a Request for Evidence. Premium processing buys speed, not certainty, and an RFE stops the clock either way. The response had to correct the record precisely and overturn it fast, with the New York role already waiting.

Interview Prep and a Tight Window

Kevin's consulate plan was complex. He had to travel to another city for the interview, which meant coordinating the printing and delivery of his petition papers, plus two interview simulation and preparation sessions so nothing was left to chance.

The Turning Point: Finding Concord

When Kevin reached out after accepting the offer, he needed counsel who could move at the pace of a mid-relocation timeline. Concord answered his questions fast, and had most of the petition drafted early in the process. When the RFE landed, that head start mattered: Concord reviewed every piece of the RFE materials and reworked the response on top, tightening the parts that mattered. The RFE was overturned, and the O-1A was approved.

The Outcome

With the petition approved, the last stretch was the consulate. This time the interview prep sat with Concord, which ran two mock interviews: one online, and one in person, since a Concord team member happened to be in the same city. The team also printed his consulate documents and hand-delivered them, rather than leaving a busy, traveling client to sort the paperwork himself.

It worked. Kevin passed his interview, his passport came back the next day, and he flew to the United States that weekend. He is now in New York with the Asia Society, doing the work his career had been building toward.