Mr. M has practiced sumo since childhood. He spent years competing in amateur tournaments in Japan and has won medals at national and international events. In recent years he has received a growing number of invitations to compete, perform and teach in the U.S., and he needed a status that would let him work here long term.

• Sumo is a niche sport in the U.S., so it is hard for an officer to judge what his rankings mean within the sport. Most of his award certificates and press coverage were in Japanese.
• He does not work for a single employer in the U.S. His competitions, exhibitions and teaching are spread across several cities, so he needed a complete, workable itinerary.

• We first laid out how sumo competition is structured: which events are national, which are international, and what it takes to qualify. Then we placed his results within that structure. Every certificate and article was submitted with a certified translation.
• His coach, wrestlers he had competed against and tournament referees each wrote recommendation letters describing his level from different angles. We also obtained an advisory opinion from a U.S. sumo organization.
• His agent filed as the petitioner, with contracts and invitation letters from each event organizer, and his competitions, exhibitions and teaching for the next three years were laid out in a single itinerary.

Date	Milestone
January 2026	Case taken on
March 2026	O-1 filed with premium processing
12th business day of premium processing	Approved

With the approval in hand, Mr. M can schedule his competitions and teaching in the U.S. for the next few years as planned.

O-1 approved on the 12th business day of premium processing, with no RFE (March 2026).