EB2 NIW cover letter : what it is and how to prepare one

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, one must prove to hold an advanced degree or show exceptional ability. Furthermore, the applicant should clearly explain why their endeavor is of substantial merit and is of National Importance.

EB2 NIW cover letter - image of envelope

The applicant writes a cover letter to guide the USCIS officer through all the documentation that supports the case. These documents are typically enclosed in the petition as Exhibits. Therefore, the EB2 NIW cover letter should be effective in providing a narrative to support the case for a National Interest Waiver. An effective cover letter should:

  • Be easy to understand without being an expert in the field
  • Reference all the important documents attached
  • Highlight the most critical aspects that support the case
  • Be organized according to the requirements for NIW for easy review

How to write an effective EB2 NIW cover letter

Plan before you write

Even before writing anything, as the petitioner, you should think about the case you want to make. In other words, dedicate some time to strategize about your I-140 petition. In the post about EB-2 NIW processing time I mentioned that 1 to 2 weeks is the time to dedicate to this planning stage.

What you want to do first is to update your CV with all your experience and skills. This will help you understand your own profile better. Then, focus on those items you think the I-140 petition should highlight. Consequently, you will understand what evidence you need to gather to support your case. In addition, you will better understand what evidence you need to collect through letters of recommendation. Typically, you leverage those letters to obtain evidence hard to substantiate through other means.

For example, imagine you are a scientist working in a private company and you could not submit papers for publication, so your organization did not lose intellectual property opportunities. In this case, you can have at least one recommender from your company describing in layman’s words what contributions you made.

What language to use in a EB2 NIW cover letter

…and I am not talking about English (duh!). Use very easy language that anyone can understand. You may be a nuclear physicist, an expert in virology, or perhaps a neurosurgeon. It does not matter how complicated your field is. You need to write about your endeavor and your achievements in a way that even your family could understand. Think that the USCIS officer may not an expert in any technical field! (Other than in green card applications, of course).

In addition, remember that the officer has limited time. You should make his or her life easier by going to the point and avoiding unnecessary repetition. Just put yourself in their situation: imagine you are slammed by a multiple hundred-page package to review in a limited time. The EB2 cover letter should really be quick to go through so all the evidence is well articulated and a decision can be made relatively fast. By not helping the officer and making the document too long, you are hurting your own case! He or she may get bored and lose interest, or perhaps think that if you are repeating the same things over and over you do not have the qualifications that you claim to have.

Quotes and Exhibit references

Remember that the cover letter is only a guide for the USCIS to understand your case effectively. You will provide all the evidence as Exhibits. In the cover letter, you will quote excerpts from letters of recommendation, or other documents, as needed.

Structure of EB2 NIW cover letter

The following structure for the cover letter can be helpful to articulate the case in an effective way:

  1. Letter Introduction – very short summary of each section in the cover letter
  2. Table of Contents – an index with page numbers
  3. Chapter 1: Advanced Degree or Exception Ability Section
  4. Chapter 2: Substantial Merit and National Importance
  5. Chapter 3: I am Well Positioned to advance the proposed endeavor
  6. Chapter 4: It would be beneficial to the USA to waive the Labor Certification
  7. Petitioner’s nonimmigrant status
  8. Petitioner’s dependents status
  9. Conclusions

1. Cover Letter Introduction

In this section, you will address the USCIS offer and introduce them to your petition. This section contains basic information on the top, such as:

  • Date 
  • USCIS address (check the right USCIS address in the official website)
  • Subject line, for example “RE: EB-2 Immigrant Petition for Permanent Residency with National Interest Waiver”
  • Petitioner name, type of submission (Original submission), classification sought (Immigration and Nationality Act 203(b)(2)(B))

Then, you can write a short letter to the officer introducing yourself. First, you can simply state you are pursuing approval for the Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker (I-140) as a self-petitioner/beneficiary and that you would like to demonstrate your fulfillment of the EB-2 National Interest Waiver requirements and provide evidence to support it.

Next, you can tell the officer that you are eligible for EB-2 classification as either an Advanced Degree Holder, or due to your Exceptional Ability. Here you can cite Section 203(b)(2) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, 8 U.S.C. §1153(b)(2) as the regulation of reference. You can specifically state what Advanced Degree you hold, or what three criteria you fulfill for exceptional ability. You can reference Chapter 1.

In the next paragraph, you can state that you will be providing further evidence to demonstrate that a waiver of the labor certification is in the national interest, pursuant to the precedent case Matter of Dhanasar, 26 I&N Dec. 884 (AAO 2016). Interim Decision #3882. You can reference Chapter 2.

Finally, you can provide three short paragraphs, each one addressing Chapters 3, 4, 5. These are the justifications for why the proposed endeavor has substantial merit and national importance, why you are well-positioned, and why it would be beneficial to waive the labor certification. In each paragraph, you can reference the appropriate Chapter.

You can remind the USCIS officer that there are Exhibits under the letter, and can provide them as a bulleted list.

2. Table of Contents

The table of contents is exactly what the name suggests: and index with Chapter titles and subsections with page numbers.

3. Chapter 1 – Advanced Degree or Exceptional Ability Section

If you are an advanced degree holder this will be a very quick Chapter. You only need to state what type of degree you hold (M.S., or Ph.D., for example), the institution, and reference to the appropriate Exhibit number. It is wise to provide a short explanation of how this degree is related to the endeavor you are going to be discussing later in the document.

If you do not have an advanced degree, you will state that you are a person of exceptional ability and provide the reasons. Then, create subsections to address each of the (at least three) categories that you meet. For each of them, remember to refer to the appropriate Exhibit containing the evidence. This evidence may be Letters of Recommendation, educational degrees, or proof of membership in professional associations, to name a few.

You can finish this Chapter with a statement saying that you qualify for EB-2 classification as either a member of the professions holding an advanced degree or a person who has exceptional ability.

4. Chapter 2 – Substantial Merit and National Importance

In this chapter you will explain in detail what endeavor you will pursue as a worker in the United States. In addition you will specify why this endeavor is of substantial merit and of national importance. First of all, remember that endeavor is not just a general occupation. USCIS restricts the definition as the details of what this occupation involves specifically.

Second, substantial merit is a broad term that could mean multiple things; anything of intrinsic merit. Third, national importance is more restrictive. This is because you need to prove the endeavor is relevant for the US as a whole. In other words, it cannot impact only part of the country! We covered this in a separate blog post about how to qualify for National Interest Waiver.

You should start this chapter by clearly identifying the endeavor and the impacts on the United States. In addition, specify the type of work you do to advance this endeavor. Then, you can break down this chapter into subchapters to explain the benefits of the endeavor for the US. For example, in my case, I used “Bioprocessing to generate biofuels and bioproducts” as my endeavor. Then, I had different subsections:

  • Brief introduction to the field
  • Impact on Food Safety and Security
  • Impact on Energy and National Security
  • Summary of benefits to the nation

In each of these sub-sections, I used quotes from the Exhibits to prove substantial merit and national importance. These quotes were taken from the recommendation letters and from documents from the US government. Typically, you want to demonstrate National Importance using published documents from Congress, or the White House, or some government agency. You want to connect the dots between your experience (and endeavor) and what the US government considers strategic. This makes your case very strong! In the post about how to qualify for NIW I gave a few links that may be useful for this. Alternatively, you can also find references in the scientific literature that speak to the dimensions of a certain problem you can help solve. Finally, excerpts from reference letters can help bring these points home.

Example from sample EB2 NIW cover letter

According to the US Energy Information Administration, 63% of the energy consumed in the country in 2013 was produced from petroleum and natural gas. According to BETO’s website, this federal office aims to “work with a broad spectrum of government, industrial, academic, agricultural, and nonprofit partners across the United States to develop commercially viable, high-performance biofuels, bioproducts, and biopower made from renewable U.S. biomass resources that reduce our dependence on imported oil while enhancing energy security.”. (Exhibit 9B: Relevance of research for the U.S. National Interest – Screenshot of BETO website). It is evident that the field of bioprocess engineering, specifically bioenergy and biofuels, is a top priority for the U.S. government.

Enroll in the new EB2 NIW online course!

If you need step-by-step guidance, I will provide a series of video lessons that cover how to qualify for the 3 prongs, how to write a solid cover letter, recommendation letters, professional plan, how to fill out forms... And you will get my own successful I-140 petition and adjustment of status package!

5. Chapter 3 – I am Well Positioned to advance the proposed endeavor

This is another central section of the cover letter, in which you must describe your achievements in detail. This is because you need to establish how you are well-positioned. You have to do it in a methodical way and always reference the documents attached as Exhibits. Remember that every claim needs supporting evidence.  Below is the structure I used for my third Chapter. Each of the bullet points were sub-headings in my cover letter.
[Please keep in mind that this is just a sample letter structure, and you can use a different structure if it fits you better. There are no guidelines by USCIS on how to do this. You may have additional (or less) qualifications or experience that may need a different approach.]

  • Background and achievements.
  • Summary of qualifications. After reminding the officer about my advanced degree, I went on to provide additional qualifications. You can provide proof of being a member of professional associations, peer-review publications, and citations (for scientists), and quote certain relevant passages from recommendation letters.
  • Specific exceptional contributions to the field. I broke them down by project I worked on. I included specific evidence showing the impact my work had had in the broader field. Since I am a scientist I provided evidence of the publications that my work produced (including the number of citations) and statements from the reference letters.
    • Project 1
    • Project 2
    • Project 3…
  • Evidence of the influence of my research. This is more specific to scientists, but other professions can use a similar sub-section adapted to the field. For scientists, you can use your Google Scholar profile to show your publications and how many citations you received.
  • Review work from peers in international journals. This one is also specific to researchers. But other professions may have alternative ways to demonstrate that they judge the work of others. For example, you may have participated in competitions as a judge, may have been a member of hiring panels, or may have overseen the work of others and participated in their performance reviews. Be creative in finding evidence that shows you are a reputable member of the profession.
  • Commanding a higher salary. You may choose to include this as part of your demonstration of exceptional ability, which may help establish how you are well-positioned in the field. A good way to demonstrate this is to compare your salary/compensation with those shown in CareerOneStop, a portal by the US Department of Labor, for similar positions. Additionally, you can use other sources of information.
  • Conclusions to Chapter 3. A short statement reiterating that you are well-positioned to advance the proposed endeavor.

For this chapter, you can include a Personal Statement letter as an Exhibit. Alternatively, if you are an entrepreneur, you may provide a Business Plan (you can find examples here).  These are especially useful if you are not currently working in the United States. You can use this letter for Chapter 3 (proving you are well-positioned) and for Chapter 4 (waive the Labor Certification). We will cover Personal Statements in a different blog post. But until then, you should know that this type of statement may be a 1 to 4 page letter where you briefly describe your background and spend most of the letter explaining plans for your work once in the United States.  

 

Want to see a real EB2 NIW cover letter?

If you want to get more value than just a sample cover letter, download a full EB-2 NIW application that includes a REAL 22-page cover letter. You can use this as a reference for your own DIY petition!

 

6. Chapter 4 – It would be beneficial to the USA to waive the Labor Certification

In this Chapter, generally shorter than the previous two, you can explain why the US should waive the Labor Certification. You can do this in different ways.

First, you can remind the USCIS officer that a labor certification considers only minimum requirements but not exceptional abilities. Here, you can briefly reiterate why your achievements are exceptional. You may refer to previous Chapters and even bring new quotes from reference letters to convey the message.

Second, if you are already working in the United States, you can provide evidence that your organization needs you. Consequently, by extension, you are needed in the country. You can briefly explain again that your work is critical for the nation and finding another professional in the field with similar contributions is extremely difficult. 

In addition, you can literally state that your exceptional skills and track record of achievements cannot be articulated in a labor certification process. This is because this process would lead to choosing a person with weaker skills and experience than you have. During this section, it would be immensely helpful if someone in your organization had provided a letter of recommendation, that can be quoted.

If you are not currently working in the US, you refer to a EB2 NIW Personal Statement letter or a business plan, to help argue the need for waiving the labor certification.

7. Petitioner’s nonimmigrant status

In this section, you can briefly describe your current status as a nonimmigrant in the United States. Of course, this applies only if you are already in the US and not if you are applying from abroad using Consular Processing. Remember to attach the pertinent documentation to the Exhibits section. This includes copies of visas, EAD cards, passport, I-94…  

8. Petitioner’s dependents status

Even though the I-140 petition is centered on you, it is necessary to mention that you have dependents if that is the case. This is because in case you are granted a green card, they will also be eligible for it.  In this section, you can describe what is their nonimmigrant status and reference the appropriate Exhibit where their documentation is.

9. Conclusions

This section is self-explanatory. In approximately one page, summarize all the Chapters of the EB2 NIW cover letter and wrap it up with a final call for the USCIS officer to consider your petition. Remember to thank them for the time they put into reviewing your case! Tip: Adding your signature in ink at the bottom makes the letter look more formal.

After the writing process: proofread

As for every part of the I-140 petition, you should invest a considerable amount of time going through what you wrote. This is a central part of the petition and you want to make sure there are no grammar issues, typos, or errors referencing the Exhibits. For grammar checks, I use the tool Grammarly. They have a free plan that integrates well in apps like Microsoft Word. Additionally, you can upgrade to a paid plan for extra functionalities. In addition to using this type of tool, you may share your cover letter with a friend or colleague to get a second review. They can even provide feedback on how easy it is to understand, especially if they are outside your professional field.

How long should the EB2 NIW cover letter be?

There are no official rules about how long the EB-2 NIW cover letter should be. Typically, letters of 10 to 40 pages are common. Considering the amount of evidence that an EB-2 NIW case includes, it is hard to think shorter letters can be effective. It is likely that the USCIS officer misses some evidence because the content was condensed too much. On the opposite side, a cover letter that is too lengthy may be repetitive and boring. My EB-2 NIW cover letter was 22 pages long. In hand sight, I think I could have made it a bit shorter by avoiding unnecessary repetition.

The EB-2 NIW cover letter: closing comments

In this blog post we went through what the cover letter is and how to write a successful one. Remember that this is the guide for the USCIS to navigate your petition. Invest time on planning it and drafting it. Follow a structure that matches the requirements for this green card category, so it is easy to review for the USCIS officer. Use language easy to understand and avoid repetition. Finally, remember to double check references to Exhibits and correct all grammar and typos you can find.

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46 thoughts on “EB2 NIW cover letter : what it is and how to prepare one”

  1. Jorge M Ghazal

    Hi, my name is Jorge, I’m from Brazil.
    I’m not a researcher, I’m in the electrical engineering field.
    Do I have any chance?
    For me the costs are very high, even doing the process alone.
    Can your WORD document help me? Is there a cheaper option to get this document? can you send me a sample?
    Thank you very much if you can help me.

    1. Hi Jorge,
      You need to review the requirements carefully and decide. I am not a lawyer so I cannot give you that type of advice. I have written other posts about qualifications (https://eb2niw.info/2022/06/16/how-to-qualify-for-national-interest-waiver/) that may help you think about your case. Generally, you have to see if you can qualify for EB-2 (so advanced degree or exceptional ability), but then you need to make sure you can argue the substantial merit and national importance aspects of the NIW. This will vary case to case depending on your background.

      I think my package can help you because you can see how I argued my case. Unfortunately this is the only material I offer as of now. I am working on additional materials to guide you through the preparation process but it is going to take a few more weeks. Thanks,
      Oscar

  2. Carmen Vivian Gomez

    Hi Oscar,

    Your information has been very helpful to me, and I decided to do the process without a lawyer. I have a few questions about the cover letter: where should include the I-140 form? and should include my CV or just use it as reference?
    When I prepare the package, I will be sending you for review,

    Thanks,
    Vivian

    1. Hi Carmen,

      Thanks for the feedback! The I-140 form, and the form ETA-9089 in duplicate I included first thing in the package, with a cover page of their own. You can see the structure in this other article https://eb2niw.info/2022/08/05/%e2%96%b7-how-to-assemble-the-i-140-petition-for-eb2-niw-eb2niw-info/ . And of course, if you go to the Downloads section you will be able to see my petition exactly how I submitted it to USCIS. I did attach my CV as an Exhibit and I referred to it if needed in the cover letter.

      I will gladly review your petition once prepared, you can use the form in “Services” once you are ready. Good luck!

      Oscar

    2. Hello Oscar, a query, scientific articles are deven append complete to the application?, I say it because they are voluminous documents

  3. I am very happy to see this.I am working on my EB-2 green card application and would like to submit it this September. I would be happy to send it to you for review after I am done.Your information has been very helpful to me

  4. Carolina Saldarriaga

    Thank you very much for the investment of time and effort you have made in this material, it is of great help, very complete and orderly, it is difficult to find quality information on the subject, a question? Should I understand that the proposed endeavor is contained in the cover letter?

    1. Thank you for your kind comments Carolina. I am glad if it helps others!

      You are right, the proposed endeavor should be contained in the cover letter. If you wanted, you can have that as a separate section. In my case, I just spelled out the proposed endeavor in the introduction of the section “Substantial Merit and National Importance”, and then, of course, I repeated it throughout the cover letter. You can see this if you choose to download my own petition on the Downloads Section of the website. Thanks!

    2. Hi Oscar
      It’s me Sadia from Pakistan I am a science student having 18 years qualification. 8 years experience. Can you send me sample for petition. Your email address????

  5. Hi Oscar, Soy ingerniero electronico y compre tu DIY package, la verdad ha sido de gran guia en este proceso de la EB2 NIW, primero que nada quiero agradecerte por hacer este aporte alcanzable para todos.
    Segundo, tengo una pregunta en tu documentacion: Exhibit 9. Relevance of research for the US National Interest, esta informacion es una investigacion que hiciste en las diferentes fuentes de internet para demostrar que tu profesion es de interes en EEUU??

    1. Hola Rebeca, muchas gracias por tus palabras. Me alegro que sea de ayuda!

      Respecto a tu pregunta: si, correcto. Como parte del primer prong del Matter of Dhanasar tienes que probar que tu endeavor tiene mérito substancial y beneficia a los Estados Unidos. Entonces tienes que buscar pruebas de que el gobierno, congreso, agencias gubernamentales, etc están claramente decididos a solventar el problema que tú puedes ayudar a mejorar, o hay medidas que quieren llevar a cabo en tu área de experiencia. Cuánto más oficiales sean esas fuentes, más fuertes son como pruebas para tu petición. Luego si miras la cover letter, me refieron a ellas cuando justifico el National Importance.

      Saludos

      1. Fernando Morillo

        Gracias Oscar.
        Estoy empezando el proceso EB-2 y me han dicho que si es posible pagarlo, es un proceso nuevo basado en habilidades excepcionales y advance degrees.

        1. Hola Fernando. El EB-2 NIW no es un proceso nuevo, lleva muchos años vigente. Lo que es nuevo es que están añadiendo la opción de Premium Processing para esta categoría. Lo que pasa es que lo hacen de forma progresiva y aún no está totalmente implementada, tal y como se explica en el enlace que te proporcioné. Saludos

  6. Hola Oscar,
    Excelente material y gracias por compartir. Una consulta: ¿los exhibits de las cartas de recomendación son las originales?

    1. Hola Carlos,
      No entiendo tu pregunta. Te refieres a si debes poner la carta original como Exhibit? Si es el caso, no hace falta, puedes poner una copia con tal de que tenga firma.

  7. Is a personal letter different from a cover letter? Does the Introduction means a personal letter and then prepare the cover letter (description) for each chapter and annex ahead of that chapter?

  8. I worked as a pharmacist in pharmaceutical companies in Pakistan and have 5 years of Experience in the production and manufacturing of medicine, that is the main domain in which I have worked. So I need your guidance regarding the subject. I want to know how many chances there are that they will approve my case.

    1. I don’t provide this kind of guidance here, and I never guive a % chance . You need to learn about the green card category so you can understand if you can make a good case for yourself. This website has a lot of tools for you to do that!

  9. could you please tell me is it necessary to submit 9089 form and all its annexures with petition i-140?

  10. Hi Oscar,

    I am Naturalised Swedish Citizen from 2020 and my country of Birth is India.Have a Phd and 20 years experience in IT .
    Was Wondering if i apply for EB2 NIW , would my country of citizenship be considered or country of birth?
    Also, can you pls shed some light on what would be turnaround time for India, Sweden applicants.

    TYIA
    Regards

  11. Hi Oscar,

    I have a Bachelor degree in manufacturing engineering and a Master degree in solar energy engineering & commercialization. After I graduated, I’ve worked for solar energy field for 2 years and medical device field for 4 years. I am just wondering if I can use both work fields for I-140 application since I have achievements in both fields. It’s kind of confusing because I-140 form only let me to fill in one single “job title“, which is not easy for me to choose. Does it matter if my master degree (solar energy) is not related to my current job title as ” medical device regulatory affairs” ? Looking forward to hear from you.

    Thanks,
    Jarvis

    1. Hi Jarvis, this is what the policy manual says: “A U.S. baccalaureate degree or a foreign equivalent degree followed by at least 5 years of progressive experience in the specialty is considered the equivalent of a master’s degree”

  12. Hi Oscar,
    Thanks for your YouTube and website information for EB2-NIW. I followed the the instructions. My application using premium processing was approved in 7days! Thanks so much
    I currently do business plan for EB2-NIW at reduced fees. If you know anyone in need of this service. Contact me at oluwatoyinosunneye@gmail.com. Thanks

  13. Hi
    If someone is applying from abroad, what should be included in the petitioner’s non-immigrant status? Passport or anything?

    1. It’s always wise to state you are not in the USA and provide copy of passport (and derivatives). This is the kind of stuff you can learn in my course 🙂

  14. Hi Oscar,
    I am Industrial Engineer with more thatn 14 years of experience in differents industries, I own Bachelor and master degree from abroad, the master is acreditted by ACBSP and both passed the US equivalente from wolrd education service (WES) in 2016. I am currently living at USA with my family and I’ve been toying about the idea of filing the EB2-INW.

    I can support peers recomendations letter regarding achivements in my profession, projects work experience and perhasp comply with requirements stablished. I am not sure about how to justify “Substantial Merit and National Importance”. Do you thinkg that by buyin your guide documents i can better understand and light me up with the pursepose.

    Warm Regards,
    Hm

    1. Hi Henry, what I recommend in these cases is to go for the EB2 NIW online course (link at the bottom and the top of this page), because you will get all the downloadable materials (my own petition) plus 10 modules full of video lectures explaining each part of the process and how to write. Good luck!

    1. Hi,

      Thank you for great information!

      I am wondering if I need to write my petition in the third-person point of view or I can use the first-person?

      Best,
      Mohammad

  15. Hello Oskar, I am not a university graduate. I have been working in the same company in the passenger aircraft maintenance sector for 25 years. I have been a certifying staff in domestic and international (1 year in the USA) projects. For the eb2nıw application process, would it be beneficial if I add the vocational training documents I have received in and out of the company, certificates of achievement and magazine publications related to works outside my professional life, in addition to my total 20-year US immigrant visa and 5-year expired E2 visas to the file?

    1. Hi Kadir, I don´t provide individualized assistance. There are many types of documents you can attach in the application. You need to check out the Exceptional Ability route to see if you can qualify. Once you decide that, you may choose to enroll in our course to learn how to do this

  16. Hi Oscer, What do you think about the use of Highlighter present in the pdf files? Don’t you think, it would be very difficult for USCIS officer to search the quote from the page? What else can be done to guide the officer to right place? Do you think it is the better idea to place mark like arrow or commas with pen on the hard copy?

  17. Hi Oscar,

    Hi Oscar, I came across your guidance on the EB-2 NIW process, and I found it incredibly insightful. I’m interested in applying and would like to know if I might qualify. I hold an advanced degree in Education, work as a disability advocate, and am currently in the U.S. on an F-1 visa as a graduate student. Would these qualifications make me eligible?

    1. Hi! I don’t provide evaluations or individualized advice, but you have tons or resources here, in the YouTube channel and if you decide to go for it, in the online course

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