概述
The EB-2 National Interest Waiver is a green-card self-petition path for individuals whose work is in the U.S. national interest. It waives the labor-certification and job-offer requirements that ordinarily apply to EB-2, which means no employer sponsor and no PERM process. The candidate must qualify for EB-2 in the first place, either by holding an advanced degree (or its equivalent) or by demonstrating exceptional ability, and then must satisfy the three-prong NIW test articulated in Matter of Dhanasar.
The Dhanasar prongs are: (1) the proposed endeavor has substantial merit and national importance; (2) the petitioner is well-positioned to advance the endeavor; and (3) on balance, it would benefit the United States to waive the job-offer and labor-certification requirements. The 2025 USCIS policy memorandum sharpened how the second prong is read: adjudicators now look for objective evidence of trajectory, not just historical accomplishment. For non-academic petitioners (corporate engineers, founders, mid-career professionals), the framing must show that the work itself, not only the person, advances the national interest in concrete and verifiable ways.
Sophie Team has filed NIW petitions across AI and ML research, semiconductor work, climate and energy, healthcare, advanced manufacturing, and entrepreneurship. The cases that succeed under the post-2025 framing are those that pair a clearly defined endeavor with primary-source evidence: citations, technology adoption, formal recognition from the field, peer-reviewed publications, and where applicable, formal endorsements from agencies or institutions whose interests align with the proposed work. We also handle the harder cases honestly: where the field is important but the candidate's record is still building, we will say so and discuss whether a year of focused work makes the filing materially stronger.
申請條件
- 01Advanced-degree holders (master's or higher, or bachelor's plus five years of progressive experience) whose work falls in a field of substantial merit and national importance.
- 02Persons of exceptional ability documented through formal recognition, professional licensure, comparable salary evidence, and peer endorsements.
- 03STEM researchers and engineers with citation records, peer-review history, or technology-transfer evidence supporting both the endeavor's importance and the petitioner's trajectory.
- 04Founders and senior contributors whose work commercializes or implements technology of national importance, with verifiable impact (adopted products, customer base, partnerships, funding).
- 05Healthcare, climate, semiconductor, biotech, and AI/ML professionals working in fields aligned with stated U.S. policy priorities, with evidence sufficient under the post-2025 "well-positioned" framing.
申請流程
- 01
Endeavor framing
The first and most important step is defining the proposed endeavor in concrete, durable terms. Vague framings ("I will continue my research in machine learning") fail; specific framings ("I will continue developing and deploying privacy-preserving federated-learning systems for medical imaging") give the petition a coherent national-importance argument. We work with the petitioner to write an endeavor description grounded in actual current and near-term work.
- 02
National-importance evidence
Prong one (substantial merit and national importance) typically draws on policy documents, agency reports, government program priorities, industry analyses, and where available, formal endorsements from federal agencies, national laboratories, or recognized industry bodies. The 2025 framing makes this evidence more important than it was; we treat it as a substantive section of the petition rather than a single citation.
- 03
Well-positioned evidence
Prong two is where the post-2025 tightening is most visible. Adjudicators expect objective third-party evidence of trajectory: citations, peer-review history, documented technology adoption, formal recognition, salary, and where applicable, customer or partnership evidence for founder petitions. Self-prepared declarations are not enough on their own. We build this section to do the heaviest lifting.
- 04
I-140 filing and premium processing
Premium processing is available for NIW I-140 filings. The petition makes the Dhanasar argument prong by prong, with each prong tied to specific exhibits. RFEs in NIW cases most often target prong two; we draft to anticipate that and include a structured trajectory record in the initial filing rather than waiting to add it.
- 05
I-485 or consular processing
Once the I-140 is approved and a visa number is available, the petitioner adjusts status inside the United States or completes consular processing abroad. EB-2 priority dates are current for many countries but retrogressed for India and mainland China; for those countries the wait between I-140 approval and visa availability can be measured in years. We plan around that reality from the start, including coordinating with O-1A or H-1B status to maintain work authorization in the interim.
常見問題
What does "national importance" actually mean?
USCIS reads "national importance" as work whose impact extends beyond a single employer, customer, or local geography to affect the country (or a meaningful sector of it) at scale. Academic research with broad citation and adoption usually qualifies; so does work on technologies tied to national policy priorities (semiconductors, AI safety, climate, healthcare access). Commercial work for a single company without broader impact tends to fail this prong.
How important are citations as objective evidence?
For research-track NIW petitions, citations are central to the prong-two trajectory argument. Strong citation counts in the petitioner's sub-field, citations by independent groups, and citations in influential venues all carry weight. For non-research petitioners (founders, applied engineers), the equivalent evidence is technology adoption, customer relationships, formal recognition, and documented impact; the citation question reframes as "what objective record shows this person's work is having reach."
Can I file NIW without an employer?
Yes. The waiver of the job-offer requirement is the defining feature of NIW. The petitioner self-files the I-140 and is not tied to a sponsoring employer either at filing or after approval. This is one of the structural advantages NIW shares with EB-1A and is a major reason it attracts founders and independent professionals.
NIW or EB-1A: which path?
EB-1A asks whether the petitioner is at the top of the field; NIW asks whether the petitioner's work is in the national interest and the petitioner is well-positioned to do it. The bars are different, and many petitioners credibly qualify for NIW well before they qualify for EB-1A. Where both are credible, EB-1A is generally preferred because of its faster priority dates; where only NIW is credible, NIW is the right path. We assess both at intake.
Has the 2025 policy memorandum made NIW harder?
It has tightened how the "well-positioned" prong is adjudicated, particularly for non-academic petitioners and for petitioners whose evidence was previously thin. It has not closed the path. Petitions built around concrete endeavors and supported by objective third-party evidence continue to be approved at meaningful rates; petitions built around vague endeavors or self-prepared trajectory declarations are now more likely to draw RFEs or denials.