Indian entrepreneur Aryaman Behera, founder and CEO of RepelloHQ, has secured approval for the O-1A visa, a category reserved for individuals with extraordinary ability in business, science, and technology.
Backed by General Catalyst, RepelloHQ’s Behera shared the news on X with a mix of pride and humor.
“O-1A approved Officially an ‘alien of extraordinary ability’. 3 years building @RepelloHQ – securing AI agents from an attacker’s perspective. Grateful to my team, customers, and everyone who believed before the path was clear. Back to work,” he wrote on X.
His tongue-in-cheek reference to being an “alien of extraordinary ability” echoes the formal language used by U.S. immigration authorities for O-1 visa holders. Behind the sarcasm, however, lies a significant milestone.
The O-1A visa is typically granted to founders, researchers, and executives who can demonstrate sustained national or international acclaim through awards, media coverage, funding, and measurable industry impact.
“The O-1A visa is a strategic option for highly accomplished individuals (researchers, scientists, academics, senior-level engineers, and more) but it should not be considered an easy substitute for the H-1B. It requires a higher level of evidentiary documentation, and is more likely to receive Requests for Evidence (RFEs),” Immigration Attorney Johnson Myalil of High-Tech Immigration Law Group told The American Bazaar, adding the typical approval rate for O-1A is “relatively high.”
For Indian startup founders, U.S. visa approvals have become increasingly complex. Recently, several Indian CEOs and tech entrepreneurs have spoken publicly about delays and rejections under the B-1/B-2 business visitor category, complicating travel for fundraising, partnerships, and customer meetings in the United States.
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Against that backdrop, an O-1A approval represents more than routine clearance. It signals professional validation in a competitive immigration environment.
Behera founded RepelloHQ three years ago with a focus on securing AI agents from an attacker’s perspective, an emerging niche as enterprises rapidly adopt artificial intelligence tools.
With backing from General Catalyst and growing concern around AI security risks, his visa approval marks both a personal milestone and a broader acknowledgment of Indian founders building deep-tech solutions with global ambitions.
His approval also comes at a time when the O-1 visa, sometimes informally called America’s “genius visa,” is drawing renewed attention as uncertainty clouds the H-1B program.
According to recent figures from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, O visa approvals reached about 39,000 in 2025, one of the highest levels in recent years. Immigration platform Beyond Border, which operates out of the United States and Bengaluru, says approval rates for the O-1 category have consistently remained above 90 percent across administrations.
Created under the Immigration Act of 1990, the O visa is a non-immigrant category for individuals who can demonstrate extraordinary ability in business, science, arts, education, or athletics. The O-1A classification specifically covers those in science, education, business, or athletics.
Applicants must meet at least three of eight criteria, which may include nationally or internationally recognized awards, published material about their work, authorship of scholarly articles, or evidence of original contributions of major significance.
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Unlike the H-1B, the O-1 does not operate under an annual lottery or numerical cap. It is generally granted for an initial period of up to three years and can be extended in one-year increments without a fixed limit.
That structural flexibility, combined with relatively high approval rates, has made the category increasingly attractive to founders and highly skilled professionals navigating an unpredictable immigration climate.
Data from the U.S. Department of State shows O-1A issuances rising sharply in recent years, nearly doubling between fiscal year 2020 and fiscal year 2023. Indian nationals are among the fastest-growing groups in this category.
In fiscal year 2023 alone, 1,418 O-1A visas were issued to Indians, up from 487 in fiscal year 2020, reflecting strong demand from STEM graduates, AI researchers, entrepreneurs, and artists seeking a more stable pathway to work in the United States.
In that context, Behera’s O-1A approval is part of a broader shift, as Indian founders and other high-skilled professionals increasingly turn to the extraordinary ability route to bypass the bottlenecks that have long defined the H-1B system.