Less than 5% of U.S. EB-1 visas are awarded to Africans.1 The EB-1 visa offers permanent residency to immigrants if you are “of extraordinary ability, are an outstanding professor or researcher, or are a certain multinational executive or manager.”
The low number of visas granted to Africans isn’t due to a lack of talent or limited slots. It’s largely because many don’t have the knowledge or guidance to complete the application process correctly. When they do, they’re often successful, showing the real barrier is access to information, not ability.
Migrants from similar economies like India and the Philippines consistently maximise their visa quota. Yet, Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation, does not have up to 1,000 nationals on the EB-1 Visa.
Curing the knowledge gap will be key to unlocking the world’s most developed markets for talented Africans who fit the bill.
Oluyomi Ojo, a serial Nigerian entrepreneur who built two prominent businesses (an SME, Printivo and a startup, Cova) in his home country before migrating to the US, has launched Agora Visa to help others like him.
Speaking to Condia, he says, “Africa has an abundance of talent. We have top-tier founders who should be building in the US, but most don’t apply. There’s just not enough support available.”
After going through the EB-1 process and getting a visa to move to the US, Ojo realised how confusing and isolating it could be. “I saw how extremely cumbersome the paperwork process was. There was no clear roadmap, and the resources available didn’t speak to someone like me.”
Agora’s unique approach to supporting founders and operators
Agora Visa is a tech-enabled company that operates at the intersection of legal, business, and technology. Its goal is to help top-tier African talents and founders secure elite US visas, launch new ventures, and integrate smoothly into the American business ecosystem.
The company is laser-focused on helping extraordinary African talent access high-bar immigration pathways: EB-1, O-1, EB-2 NIW and others.
These visas are competitive, and the application process is often complex and demanding. It takes a clear strategy, airtight documentation, and the right team behind you. Agora tackles this by combining legal expertise, compelling storytelling, and a technology platform built to handle the process from end to end. Here’s how it all comes together:
The process starts with legal support. Every client is matched with a vetted US immigration attorney who handles the actual petition and represents them before USCIS.
Then comes storytelling. Winning a petition isn’t just about having credentials; it’s about framing your impact in a way that aligns with legal criteria. Agora’s team works with clients to package their achievements, showing exactly why their work matters and what makes them stand out.
Finally, there’s the technology. Immigration is a paperwork-heavy process that often falls apart due to poor coordination. Agora’s platform gives clients real-time visibility into where their case stands, what documents have been submitted, and what’s still pending.
But securing a visa isn’t the end of the journey. Founders moving to the US often need more than immigration support. They need help registering businesses, finding attorneys and accountants, leasing office space, and integrating into the right communities. Agora connects its clients to trusted partners who provide these services, sometimes directly and sometimes through referrals, but always to help African talent not just land in the US but thrive there.
“You’re not just getting a visa. You’re building a life, a business, a network,” Ojo explains. “So we help with that, not just the paperwork.”
How AgoraVisa helps you build your case
Every Agora journey starts with two simple questions: What’s your goal, and what has the last 5 to 15 years of your career looked like?
The answers shape everything that follows. Based on your profile, Agora identifies the most suitable visa pathway: whether it’s the O-1 for individuals with extraordinary ability, the EB-1 for high-achievers at the top of their field, or the EB-2 NIW for professionals with exceptional ability or advanced degrees.
Once a path is chosen, the real work begins. Agora’s team gets to work shaping your story, gathering the right documentation, matching your achievements to the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) criteria, and collaborating with top-tier immigration attorneys to file your petition.
The process typically takes 2 to 6 months, depending on how fast clients gather their evidence. “Some people get it done in 2 months,” Ojo says. “But your speed matters because a lot of the supporting documents, like evidence of your achievements, must come from you.”
The cost range depends on the complexity of the case and additional services such as business incorporation or securing a sponsor. “There’s a lot of energy behind every case,” Ojo says.
That energy is supported by technology. Preparing US immigration applications like the EB-1 or O-1 often involves compiling case files that can run into thousands of pages. To tackle this complexity, Agora has embedded AI directly into its document preparation workflow.
But the tech doesn’t operate on its own. “We’re big believers that just AI can’t draft cases without the influence experienced attorneys and case managers.,” Ojo says. “It can’t work in isolation. Our tools are designed to support the humans in the loop, not replace them.”
AI handles a lot of the heavy lifting behind the scenes, like scanning through mountains of research or generating non-legal drafts. But every case still goes through the eyes of expert attorneys and case managers, who refine, edit, and ensure it meets the standards of US immigration authorities.
Clarity, trust, and a scalable vision for migration
Agora is upfront about what it can—and can’t—do. It’s not affiliated with the US government or any immigration agency.
“We’re not USCIS. We don’t make the final decisions,” says Ojo. “Our job is to help you build the strongest possible case, work with expert attorneys, and guide you through the process. But the outcome ultimately lies with US immigration authorities.”
This kind of transparency is foundational to building the trust needed for something as high-stakes as immigration. It sets the tone for the type of support Agora aims to provide.
And it’s this trust that forms the basis for Agora’s bigger vision.
Migration is deeply human. People move for opportunity, safety, and the chance to build something better, and that’s exactly the journey Agora is built to support. Right now, it’s work centres on helping top African talent navigate the US immigration system. But over time, the mission extends beyond just one country or one set of visas: more destinations, more pathways, and a stronger pipeline connecting emerging market talent to global opportunity.
“The US is still the place where much of the world’s innovation happens,” Ojo says. “But there’s still work to be done, and we’re committed to doing it.”
- Source: US Department of State, FY2023 Visa Statistics – Employment-Based Preferences by Nationality ↩︎
