EB-2 NIW Green Card – National Interest Waiver Without an Employer

The EB-2 National Interest Waiver is a green card for professionals whose work matters to the United States. No employer, no job offer and no PERM labor certification – you file the petition yourself. You need an advanced degree, or a bachelor’s plus five years of progressive experience, or exceptional ability, and a convincing plan for your work in the US.

We confirm you fit EB-2, shape your proposed endeavor around the three USCIS prongs, gather evidence and letters, and file Form I-140. Legal work from $10,000; government fees are separate.

Check my NIW chances

Who qualifies for EB-2

NIW is not a separate visa. It waives the job offer inside the EB-2 category, so the base comes first – one of two routes.

• advanced degree professional – a master’s or higher, or a bachelor’s followed by at least five years of progressive experience in the specialty
• exceptional ability – expertise well above the ordinary in the sciences, arts or business, shown by three of six types of evidence (relevant degree, 10 years of experience, a license, high pay, professional memberships, recognition from peers or government bodies)

A foreign degree is usually backed by a credential evaluation showing its US equivalent.

The three Dhanasar prongs

Since 2016 USCIS has decided NIW cases under the three-prong test from Matter of Dhanasar. Each prong needs documents behind it.

1. Your endeavor has substantial merit and national importance. A specific undertaking, not a job title – say, deploying battery storage for rural utilities rather than “I am a power engineer.” Importance can be economic, medical, defense-related or educational.
2. You are well positioned to advance it. Education, track record, publications, interest from customers or investors, expert letters, a plan of action.
3. On balance, waiving the job offer and PERM benefits the US. For example, because the work does not fit a single job opening, or because waiting for labor certification would hold the work back.

There is no list of qualifying occupations. Approvals cluster in science, technology, medicine and engineering, but business and education cases work too when the endeavor is concrete.

Queue and timing

For NIW your place in line is the I-140 filing date. In the November 2026 Visa Bulletin, EB-2 visas for most countries go to people with a priority date before April 1, 2025, so a new petition waits for its date after approval.

Premium processing for NIW petitions is 45 business days. It speeds up the decision on the I-140, not the queue. Inside the US, Form I-485 is filed once your date is current on the chart USCIS designates for that month.

Learn more

• Employment-Based Immigration: Second Preference EB-2 – USCIS
• Policy Manual, Volume 6, Part F, Chapter 5 – USCIS
• Visa Bulletin – US Department of State

How we prepare an EB-2 NIW case

Preparation usually takes two to four months. Most of that time goes into defining the endeavor and collecting letters from people who can speak to its value.

1. EB-2 base check. Degree, credential evaluation, years of experience. No advanced degree – we test the exceptional ability route.
2. Defining the endeavor. Together we describe what exactly you will do in the US, for whom and with what result. The whole case hangs on this wording.
3. Evidence. Publications and citations, patents, deployments, contracts, letters from experts, clients and, where possible, government bodies.
4. Form I-140. A brief built around the three prongs plus exhibits. If your date is current and you are in the US – Form I-485 at the same time.
5. Green card. Wait for the date, then DS-260 and a consular interview, or adjustment of status in the US.

An approved I-140 does not let you enter or work in the US while you wait for your date. If you need to be there sooner, that takes a separate visa – an O-1, for example, or an employer-sponsored one.

• degree and credential evaluation
• employer letters confirming experience
• description of the endeavor and a 3-5 year plan
• publications, patents, contracts
• letters from experts and prospective clients
• resume

The most common NIW mistake

Describing a profession instead of an endeavor. “I am a software engineer with ten years of experience” does not answer prong one – the US has many such engineers. “I am deploying an early fault detection system for small-town power grids, and here are letters from two utilities” does. We spend as long as it takes on that wording, because the officer reads the whole case through it.

Yulia Golinevich – immigration lawyer