EB-2 NIW
EB-2 National Interest Waiver
Self-petitioned immigrant visa for advanced-degree professionals or persons of exceptional ability whose proposed endeavor merits waiving the job-offer and labor-certification requirements under Matter of Dhanasar.
Dhanasar is three prongs, and a petition usually fails on the third — the one no amount of publication record answers on its own. Attest analyzes the file prong by prong and says plainly which prong has nothing on file addressing it.
The document checklist
What the client is asked for — before you have to ask twice.
A new EB-2 NIW starts with this checklist already on the case. Your client sees it in the portal in their own language, uploads from their phone, and each item flips to received as it arrives.
Required
7 items- Advanced degree evidence
- Personal statement describing the proposed endeavor
- Recommendation letters (5–8)
- Evidence of national importance
- Evidence you are well positioned
- Evidence supporting waiver of the job offer
- Resume / CV and identity documents
If it applies
6 items- Exceptional ability evidence (alternative threshold)
- Citation record
- Publications and scholarly output
- Credential evaluation (foreign degrees)
- Prior I-140 or PERM notices (priority date retention)
- Family member documents
What the evidence is measured against
An evidence map, criterion by criterion.
Attest reads every document on the case and maps it to the elements below — marking each one supported or a gap, and citing the page it relied on. A gap is stated plainly rather than papered over.
Where these cases get RFE’d
The grounds USCIS comes back on.
When a notice does arrive, upload it — Attest extracts each request, maps it against what you already have on file, and drafts a cited response plan. The response deadline it finds is docketed only after you confirm it against the notice page itself.
Prong 1 — endeavor too local, vague, or framed as a job
The endeavor is described as a position rather than a body of work with reach beyond one employer.
Prong 2 — record too thin, no external validation
Progress is asserted without citations, adoption, funding, or anyone outside the collaboration saying so.
Prong 3 — balance not established
Nothing on file explains why it benefits the U.S. to waive the labor-certification requirement specifically.
Conclusory or collaborator-only letters
Every letter comes from a co-author or supervisor, and none of them says anything specific.
EB-2 threshold not met
The degree or exceptional-ability showing doesn't clear the underlying EB-2 bar before the waiver is even reached.
Bring an EB-2 NIW you already have open.
Nothing to migrate. Upload the file you’re working on and see a cited evidence map against these criteria.
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