EB-2 National Interest Waiver (NIW)
The NIW lets a researcher, engineer or other advanced-degree professional petition for a green card on their own: no employer, no job offer, no labor certification. The condition is that the work you propose to do matters to the United States and that you are the right person to do it. We prepare NIW petitions for people whose record can carry that argument, and we tell you plainly when it cannot yet.
What an NIW petition has to prove
Three things, in order. First, that you qualify for EB-2 at all: an advanced degree (or a bachelor's degree plus five years of progressive experience in your specialty), and an occupation that actually calls for it. USCIS made clear in its January 2025 policy update that this threshold is examined on its own, before the waiver is considered—a step many older templates skip.
Second, the three-part test from Matter of Dhanasar: that your proposed endeavor has substantial merit and national importance; that you are well positioned to advance it; and that, on balance, it would benefit the United States to waive the job-offer and labor-certification requirements.
Third—and this is where petitions are decided today—that the endeavor is specific, and that other people have already acted on your work. Officers no longer accept "research in machine learning" as an endeavor, and they read past credentials and enthusiastic letters to ask who has cited, adopted, funded or built on what you did. Our job is to find that evidence in your record, present it so it answers each prong, and close the gaps before filing rather than after a request for evidence.
Who NIW tends to fit
Researchers and postdocs
PhD-level scientists in universities, national labs and industry whose papers are cited and used by independent groups—even without a faculty position or a large grant portfolio.
Engineers and data scientists in industry
Applied researchers whose methods, systems or standards are deployed beyond their own employer. The challenge is usually documentation, not merit; we help you build it.
Clinicians and life-science professionals
Physicians, biostatisticians and translational researchers whose work addresses a defined public-health problem.
Professionals outside traditional STEM
Economists, financial-risk analysts, educators and policy specialists can qualify when the endeavor is concrete and its national implications can be documented.
Founders
Entrepreneurs whose venture solves a nationally significant problem. USCIS has applied closer scrutiny here since 2025, so the business evidence has to be real: customers, revenue, investment, letters of intent.
Applicants a year or two away
If the record is not ready, we say so. For some clients whose plan is realistic, we outline—at no charge—how to build it legitimately before filing: which publications, review service, collaborations, deployments and documentation would carry weight.
What we work on
Finding strengths you have not documented
Most applicants undersell themselves. Before anything is drafted, we go through your record ourselves—papers, citation reports, reviewer invitations, talks, patents, code and datasets, industry adoption, press, grants—and interview you about work that never made it onto the CV. The petition is built from what we find, not only from what you hand us.
A specific, quotable endeavor
We write your proposed endeavor as a single paragraph that answers four questions: what you will build or discover, how, who benefits beyond your employer, and why it goes past the ordinary duties of your job. That paragraph then appears word for word in the petition letter, your signed statement and every recommendation letter, because officers compare them.
The EB-2 threshold, argued on its own
Degree evaluations, experience letters that say "full-time", and a showing that your occupation itself requires an advanced degree. If you qualify through a bachelor's degree plus experience, or through exceptional ability, we document it in its own section rather than a footnote.
National importance of the endeavor, not the field
Government priorities and agency reports help only when the petition connects them to your work by a mechanism. We look for use, adoption and replication outside your own institution, quantified where possible, and for letters from entities that have a stake in the problem you are solving.
Traction, not just capability
For the second prong we go through your citation record and read the citing papers: how many citations are independent of your co-authors, which groups built on the method, which journals and at what rank. We add funding, peer review, invited talks, deployments and interest from users or investors. Every paragraph ends with something that happened in the world.
Recommendation letters that corroborate rather than repeat
Each letter is written from a different vantage point—a collaborator, an independent researcher who used the work, someone in industry or government—and points to exhibits. We avoid the hedged, interchangeable letters that officers discount.
The waiver prong and the exhibit package
A clear argument for why a labor certification is impractical or counter-productive for your work, without the labor-shortage claims USCIS rejects. Exhibits are indexed, cross-referenced and consistent: names, dates, employers and titles match across every document.
How the case moves forward
Assessment
You send a CV, a publication list or Google Scholar profile, and a short description of your work. We map it against the EB-2 threshold and the three prongs and tell you where you stand—whether to file now, file alongside EB-1A, or build the record first. If it is the last, we may set out at no charge what to build and how.
Discovery and evidence map
We go through your record ourselves and interview you about work that is not on the CV. Then we list every element the petition needs, what the record shows for each, and what is still missing. Letter writers are chosen now, each with a specific topic.
Drafting
We write the endeavor statement, the petition letter and the letters, and assemble the exhibits with a full index. You review everything; nothing is filed that you have not read.
Filing, RFE and follow-through
We file the I-140 and track it. If USCIS issues an RFE, we prepare the response when covered by the signed engagement agreement. If denied, eligible clients whose signed agreements include approve-or-refile may receive a covered refiling without an additional attorney fee, with government and third-party fees separate. When your priority date allows, we move to adjustment of status or consular processing.
Four elements of our approach; specific service terms are set out in the engagement agreement.
We find the strengths, not just file the materials
We do not write from the folder you send us. We go through your record, ask questions and look for evidence you did not know counted.
Guidance on strengthening your record
Where the record is not yet ready and the plan is realistic, we may advise some clients, at no charge, on how to build it legitimately before filing.
Approve-or-refile option
For eligible clients whose signed engagement agreement includes this option, we will prepare and refile a denied petition without an additional attorney fee, subject to the agreed scope and conditions. Government filing fees and third-party costs are not included unless expressly agreed.
RFE responses included
For full-representation petitions, an RFE response is included when specified in the engagement agreement; stand-alone review services are separate.
Which one are you looking at?
The three are not interchangeable. Many researchers end up filing two of them, in sequence or together; the first conversation is usually about which.
| NIW | EB-1A | O-1 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| What it is | EB-2 green card with the job offer and labor certification waived | EB-1 green card for people at the top of a field | Temporary work visa for extraordinary ability |
| Who files | You | You | A U.S. employer or agent; sometimes your own company |
| The test | A specific endeavor of national importance; you are well positioned to advance it; waiving the labor certification benefits the U.S. | 3 of 10 criteria or a major award, then a review of the whole record | 3 of 8 criteria or a major award, tied to the work you will do |
| Typical fit | Researchers and engineers with cited, adopted work; some founders | Senior researchers, industry scientists, physicians, some founders | Researchers, engineers and founders with an employer or a company to petition |
| Timing | Visa-number wait for some countries of birth | Often current or ahead of EB-2 | Up to 3 years at a time; no annual cap |
Questions we hear often
Practical answers to frequently asked questions. Individual circumstances can affect the best course of action.
Do I need a job offer or an employer?+
What is the minimum degree?+
My citation count is modest. Is NIW still realistic?+
Can I file NIW and EB-1A at the same time?+
How long does it take?+
Is an approved I-140 a green card?+
What happens if I receive a request for evidence?+
Is responding to an RFE included in the fee?+
What is the approve-or-refile option?+
My record is not ready. Will you still work with me?+
Are NIW and EB-1A RFE deadlines now around 30 days?+
We read the work. Then we build the case.
For research-focused NIW, EB-1A and O-1 matters, we examine achievements, their documented significance and the legal criteria. Independent use of an applicant’s work can be helpful evidence, but no single metric determines eligibility.