Are you a scientist or working in a field with National Interest? EB-2 NIW may be right for you
Green card without sponsorship and without attorneys:
you can do it too!
About me: A scientist with a successful greencard application
My name is Oscar and I am just a scientist who a few years ago decided to apply for EB2 NIW permanent residency in the US. Even though I had no other help than a couple of friends who had gone through similar processes, and what I could find online, I ended up sending my application to USCIS.
No lawyers. No high commissions, or long waits. Just the government fees and the processing time as published in the official bulletins. I received my approval in a few months. In this website I tell you more about my case and about this green card category.
I have direct experience with the following visas and green cards: J-1, F-1, F-1 on OPT, H-1B, EB-2 NIW and EB-1. As you can see, I had quite the experience with the US immigration system!
What can you find here?
In this site I will compile all the information I wish I had when I started this journey of Green Card petitioning. You can also find me on my YouTube channel Oscar’s Green Card
Not legal advice
I am a scientist, not a lawyer. This website is just for educational, motivational purposes, and is not legal advice. You are free to use this information at your own risk.
Latest Posts
In my previous blog post I went over the percentage of approvals and denials in Fiscal Year 2023. Using the same data source from USCIS, it is possible to rank the countries by number of accepted and approved...
USCIS, the agency that deals with green card processing within the federal government, publishes statistics regularly. Unfortunately, they not always provide separate numbers for the National Interest...
I have been approached by many prospective applicants for EB-2 National Interest Waiver green card with the following question: Oscar, should I pay extra and use Premium Processing for EB2 NIW? In this...
October 2023 Visa Bulletin was released by Department of State and USCIS and it comes with some news.
On one hand, Table A (Final Action Dates) does not change much for most countries. In fact...
Victoria Chen, lawyer at the North America Immigration Law Group, has recently posted a message on her LinkedIn account voicing something that many have thought about. She brings the attention to the recent...
Many prospective EB-2 NIW applicants ask if their family can join them in case their I-140 gets approved. In this article we will review how family is dealt with in employment-based green card applications...
Davide is an Italian entomologist currently completing his PhD studies in a US University. He studied in Europe and did an internship in South Africa. Knowing that his passion was the study of insects,...
In this article, we explore options available for highly skilled foreign tech workers facing layoffs in the US, including Green Card routes and new immigration opportunities in Canada.
Layoffs and the...
If you have faced a petition denial, this guide will walk you through the appeal process, discuss timelines, costs, and success rates, providing clarity on whether an appeal is the right path for you....
In this post, we will talk about Abhi, an expert in cybersecurity, who got his I-140 for an EB-2 National Interest Waiver (NIW) green card approved in just two weeks.
We will look into how he did this,...
Screenshot of new version of ETA-9089
The Department of Labor has released a statement announcing they will finally issue a new version of form ETA-9089. This form is known as the Application for Labor...
What is Retrogression?
In this blog post, we will discuss the concept of retrogression. Retrogression generally means “the process of returning to an earlier state, typically a worse one”,...
Azzez’s story is one of a Do-It-Yourself man. He clearly has no fear about taking his matters into his own hands. And he did exactly that with his immigration future, when he decided to apply for...
Mohamed is a financial expert from Egypt. He has over a decade of experience in big projects supporting the industry. This article is a summary of the conversation I had with him for my YouTube channel. In...
The State Department has announced that they will implement a pilot plan to allow H and L visa holders to renew their visas in American soil, Bloomberg Law reports. Until now, visa holders had to travel...
Alfred is a high school teacher with a focus on STEM (which stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, Math). In this article we go over an interview I recorded with Alfred for my YouTube channel, which...
The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has announced that it will be issuing a new green card and EAD (employment authorization document) design on January 30, 2023. In a press...
In the recent few months, the United States is going through a layoff wave that has affected hundreds of companies and thousands of workers. According to the website layoffs.fyi, more than 68,000...
I receive multiple emails and Youtube comments every single day. Recently, I have been getting messages in which readers or viewers say they want to file an EB2 NIW (National Interest waiver) petition...
USCIS announced on January 12, 2023 that they are making Premium Processing fully available for green card applicants filing under the EB2 NIW (National Interest Waiver) category, as well as those under...
The Department of State and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced in December 2022 that they will extend the the visa interview waivers during 2023. This measure may affect thousands of people...
The United States Immigrations and Citizenship Services (USCIS) agency has published a proposal that would increase the fees most immigration applicants pay. Among the reasons for this increase, USCIS...
United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) released their annual report “Fiscal Year 2022 Progress Report”. In this document they summarize the main challenges and progress...
When applying for a green card there are two paths one can follow once the initial petition is approved by USCIS (this is the famous I-140 for EB2 NIW). If you are in the United States under a visa (for...
The EB2 NIW category of green card has two types of requirements. One is the famous 3-prong system from the Matter of Dhanasar that we have extensively discussed in this blog. The other one is the general...
Good news: the Adjustment of Status (or I-485) is a much simpler process than the I-140 step. In the I-140 part, you must convince the USCIS officer that you qualify under the National Interest Waiver...
The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is not only aware of the backlogs that many applicants suffer, but is committed to find solutions to tackle this problem. Last month, the USCIS...
One of the requirements for EB2 NIW green card is to have an advanced degree. In some cases, this can be substituted by other achievements such as experience or extraordinary abilities (check out this...
September 2022 – A few months ago we were talking in this blog about how USCIS was aiming for an expansion of Premium Processing to categories of green card that did not have this option....
Many green card applicants asked me how to pay the EB2 NIW fees to USCIS (United States Citizenship and Immigration Services).
The answer can be found in the official source: the USCIS website. In this...
In the EB2 NIW category, the petitioner does not need a labor certification (also referred to as PERM). However, the form relative to this PERM process needs to be enclosed in the I-140 petition together...
When preparing the cover letter for the I-140 petition, it is important to gather and present as much information and evidence as possible. Remember that the I-140 is not just the form, but the whole petition...
As for other types of green card petitions, EB2 National Interest Waiver (NIW) allows concurrent or separate I-140 and I-485 filings. In this article, we will learn what these two options are and what...
The EB-1A and EB-2 NIW green card categories share similarities such as allowing self-petitioning and requiring high skill levels, but display some differences like wait times, different standards for...
In this blog post, we will cover how to assemble the I-140 petition for EB2 NIW. This can be especially interesting for those of you thinking about a do-it-yourself petition. It includes what documents...
In this article, we will cover one of the most frequently asked questions for researchers that are considering applying for this green card: how many publications and citations for NIW?
Do you need publications...
To obtain a National Interest Waiver, a petitioner should provide the evidence to fulfill the requirements. Under EB2 NIW the US government waives the need for a job offer to get a green card. However,...
Screenshot of EB2 NIW Recommendation LetterThe letters of recommendation for a National Interest Waiver green card application are an important tool to strengthen your case. These letters are technically...
What is a Request for Evidence?
Request for Evidence, or RFE, is a letter in which the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) asks for more information. In other words, the officer...
Approval and denial rates for EB-2 green card petitions (I-140)
The EB-2 approval rate is high, an average of 93%, according to USCIS data. Depending on the year, the I-140 approval rate for this...
One of the questions I heard the most over the years was: can I travel abroad while waiting to hear from USCIS? Indeed, traveling during the green card process is a hot topic: Can I go to India while waiting...
https://youtu.be/guxkNFzf54k
If you have been reading about the green card process, chances are that you heard about the Visa Bulletin. You may have tried to interpret them and maybe you are lost. If that...
The green card process may look complex and scary. There are many misconceptions about EB-2 NIW green cards that need to be debunked. In this article, we go over the main wrong ideas or myths about this...
Putting together an EB-2 NIW green card application may seem a daunting task. On this website, I compiled important information to guide you through the process. Specifically, this article can help you...
Screenshot of the Matter of Dhanasar decision
The EB-2 National Interest Waiver is different from any other EB-2 visa in that the government waives the requirement for employment certification. However,...
One of the drawbacks of filing an EB-2 NIW application until now was that there was no premium processing for this category of green cards. However, this has changed slightly recently. Indeed, there is...
The EB-2 NIW processing time can be from 6 months to a few years. The I-140 portion of the process can take between 3 months to 2 years, depending on the moment of submission. This can be reduced...
The total EB2 NIW cost for the green card process for one individual ranges from $2,175 to $2,950 without hiring attorneys, to approximately $10,000 when attorneys are hired (this cost varies depending...