EB2 NIW Blog posts
Welcome to the EB2 NIW blog! Find all the answers to your questions here
In this section I will write about key topics related to green card applications. More specifically, I will touch on important areas related to EB-2 National Interest Waiver issues, such as cost, processing time, premium processing, similarities and differences with other GC categories, specific examples of eligible profiles…
In summary, I will try to go over the things I wish I knew when I started the process of putting together my own application. I applied for my green card in 2019 with no attorneys and I had to navigate the world of USCIS with what I found online and help from friends. Now it is the time for me to share the knowledge I gained through that process.
In addition, if you have ideas for any niche you would like to learn more about, please let me know by sending us a message in the Contact page. I would love to hear your feedback.
By the way, if you are looking for a way to follow the latest news by USCIS, I can’t recommend their Twitter account enough. However, keep in mind that they are not exclusively about our favorite EB-2 NIW greencard category.
Enjoy the reading!
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USCIS just published the data for approval rates in the employment-based green card categories. This includes approval and denial rate data for the EB2 NIW category. In the National Interest Waiver category, the new official data suggests that we have reached a new low in the approval data. The number of approvals appear to start leveling off as well.
Official...
If you’ve ever looked into applying for a green card through the EB2 National Interest Waiver (NIW) or EB1A Extraordinary Ability categories, you’ve likely encountered the high costs associated with hiring an immigration attorney. The prospect of navigating U.S. immigration law can be intimidating, especially if you’re considering doing it yourself,...
When crafting an EB-2 NIW (National Interest Waiver) petition, it’s crucial to understand which arguments will strengthen your case and which can severely weaken it. One of the most common mistakes is focusing on labor shortages to establish national importance. While it might seem compelling to argue that the U.S. needs more professionals in...
Recently I sat down with George, a musician who successfully navigated the EB2 National Interest Waiver (NIW) process, for an interview for my YouTube channel. George is an EB2 NIW online course member!
His story highlights the potential for individuals in the arts to achieve success through dedication, strategic planning, and a strong case for national...
Cristina was born in Venezuela and is also a European citizen. She is a mental health counselor who recently received approval from USCIS for an I-140 in the EB-2 NIW (National Interest Waiver) green card category.
As a customer of Oscar’s Green Card products for DIY petitioners, Cristina reached out to me to share her success story with my YouTube...
Pasha is a Russian PhD student in SMART manufacturing engineering in North Carolina. Even before graduating as a Doctor he decided to pursue an EB2 NIW green card by himself, without a lawyer, so he and his wife can continue his American life without having to worry too much about their immigration status.
He suceeded and in this article we summarize...
We knew it since January 2023: USCIS had plans to increase processing fees all across the board. The final rule is now public and in this article we will discuss the main changes and how the fee increase affects EB2 NIW green card in particular. USCIS has tamed some of the initially proposed increases, but it is fair to say that getting a green card...
USCIS has issued the data for I-140 approvals for the full Fiscal Year 2023 that ended in September 2023. The agency publishes this data on a quarterly basis and it is a good way to follow trends on percentage approvals and denials, as well as absolute numbers of approvals and denials for the different categories of green cards. This dataset includes...
Ali is a cybsercurity professional who recently obtained his I-140 approval towards an EB2 NIW green card. In this category, the petitioner must prove he is an advanced degree holder (or a person of extraordinary ability) and that he complies with the so-called Matter of Dhanasar. This is a three pronged test that includes detailing an endeavor for...
The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has announced that Premium Processing fees will increase in 2024.
This increase will take into account the inflation rate from June 2021 to June 2023, according to the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers.
https://youtu.be/MYd5neDch-c
How much will Premium Processing increase?
Depending...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybOTJy6XQOs
Many of my YouTube subscribers have asked me if it is a good idea to come to the United States on a visitor visa and submit an EB2 NIW I-140 application, to then adjust their status from the B-1/B-2 visa to a green card. The answer to this question may vary depending on the specific historical moment. As...
Good news for EB-2 (which includes EB2 NIW) in the upcoming January 2024 visa bulletin you can consult here. Dates move forward significantly and that means that applicants waiting to adjust status or complete their process from abroad using Consular Processing are getting closer to receiving their green cards.
Why is January an important month?
January...
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 petitions. In this article we will look into the third quarter of Fiscal Year 2023 to understand what countries obtain the largest number of 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 Waiver (NIW) category, which is part of the EB-2 class. In this case, I was able to find separate approval rates for EB2 NIW and in this article I will...
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 article I hope to dissipate some doubts regarding the use of expedited processing in the current environment. We will discuss current processing...
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 EB-2 advances only 7 days from September to October, with a date of July 8, 2023 in October.
October is the first month of Fiscal Year 2024
The Fiscal...
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 influx of new USCIS officers and how they may be behind some of the common mistakes observed in the adjudication of EB2 NIW cases. In this article...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJeCZdoYsCo
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 such as the National Interest Waiver.
We will review who may be included and who may not, and we...
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, and particularely the study of parasitic wasps, he decided to continue his training with a doctorate degree. While finding funding for his research in...
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 H-1B Visa Situation
The past couple of years have seen an increase in layoffs, especially in the tech sector. Layoffs come in waves and we are seeing...
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. Appeals for EB2 NIW and for other green card categories are possible, but as usual, one will need to evaluate several factors before deciding! Of course,...
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, how he showed his endeavor is important for America, how he showed he’s qualified, and his advice for others planning to go through this process.
Abhi...
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 Certification and EB-2 NIW applicants need to include it in their petition package.
I say “finally” because the current version...
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”, according to Google. In the context of the green card process, retrogression refers to the backward movement of priority dates, resulting in a longer...
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 an EB2 NIW green card all by himself.
He used online resources, such as the USCIS website and my YouTube channel, to educate himself about...
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 interview, I asked him about his profile, his proposed endeavor for the United States, what type of evidence he used, his timeline and what advice...
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 abroad when their visas were expired or close to expiration. In their home countries, they would request and schedule an interview appointment in their...
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 I will also leave at the end of the blog post. In summary, Alfred obtained his EB2 NIW approval is less than two months with regular processing, 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 release, the immigration agency argues that this change will be beneficial in terms of security, as the new design incorporates more modern features...
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 employees were laid off in January 2023 from 200+ companies in the tech sector alone. Some of the most well-known organizations engaging in these practices...
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 within one week. So I think it is time to stop and think: is it really doable an realistic to believe one can file a green card petition in only seven...
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 EB-1C category for Multinational Executives and Managers. Premium Processing for EB2 NIW costs $2,805 and will guarantee a decision in 45 days.
Premium...
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 under nonimmigrant visas in the United States, particularly those on F, H-1, H-2, H-3, H-4, academic J, L, O, P, and Q visas.
Conditions for the...
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 cites the insufficient revenue collected from petitioners to cover the high workload they have. USCIS funds 96% of their operations through costumer...
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 achieved during the fiscal year, which ran from October 2021 to September 2022.
Key Takeaways from the report
The report is an easy-to-read 14 page document...
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 example an F-1 student visa or H-1 working visa), you can apply for an adjustment of status (I-485). This converts your current visa status...
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 second priority employment-based green card requirement. Typically, we refer to it as “advanced degree”, because the petitioner must have...
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 category (the infamous three Dhanasar prongs!). Now, you only need to submit a lot of documents to prove, among other things, that you have been in good...
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 Director Ms. Ur Jaddou, and the CIS Ombudsman, Ms. Phyllis Coven, sat down for a rare Fireside chat. This one-hour long conversation was an...
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 post to learn about all the requirements).
Many petitioners hold MS or PhD degrees from non US countries. Regardless of the language spoken in those...
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. EB-2 NIW (National Interest Waiver) falls in this category.
Last week, on September 15, USCIS moved to the next phase of this staggered approach...
https://youtu.be/PlUH_zRsxxk
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 article I will provide a summary of what you can find there, and also the relevant links to the source.
Recap: How much...
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 with the I-140 form, the cover letter, and all the attachments even for EB2 NIW. In this blog post, we will discuss which form to use to...
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 where you should prove you meet all the requirements for EB-2 NIW (National Interest Waiver). To show you comply with each requirement, you should...
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 advantages or disadvantages they may present so you can use the one that best suits your case.
The steps of the EB2 NIW process
Unlike other employment-based...
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 requirements, or availability of premium processing. In this article, we discuss the EB1 vs EB2 NIW green card categories. By the end of this article,...
https://youtu.be/7rIydQ-TBho
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 comprise the petition, how to organize them, how to physically bind the application together, and the process of mailing...
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?
If you want, your can watch the YouTube video on the right-hand side of the screen.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBGbIuFk61Q&t=692s
Do you need publications...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSBmOPbioFM
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...
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 not a requirement by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). However, they are a versatile way to demonstrate your experience...
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 in charge of the case needs more documentation before making a decision. An officer may issue an RFE for multiple types of applications, including green...
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 employment-based green card category oscillates between 83 and 96%. When looking at specific approval EB-2 approval rates for petitioners from India and...
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 to hear back from USCIS about my I-140? Will I have issues if I leave the country before the adjustment of status is completed? Like in most cases...
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 is the case, you came to the right place. In this article, we will explain what is and how to read the Visa Bulletin in 2024. If you prefer, I have...
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 permanent residency category to help you navigate this process.
Misconception #1: Not having an advanced degree disqualifies you
Nothing further from...
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 avoid some common EB2 NIW application mistakes.
#1 Outdated forms or no signature
The first top mistake is using wrong forms. Particularly, I am referring...
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, to be eligible for this green card, the petitioner needs to prove their work is in the national interest. In this article, you can learn how to qualify...
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 EB2 NIW Premium processing in 2022, but it is only available for certain cases for now.
In May 2022, the US government announced that certain petitions...
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 to 45 days using Premium Processing, which is available for I-140 in the EB2 NIW category since January 30, 2023. The I-485 adjustment of status portion...
The total EB2 NIW cost for the green card process for one individual ranges from $2,805 to $3,455 without hiring attorneys, to beyond $13,000 when attorneys are hired (this cost varies depending on what firm is selected).
In this article we will break down the costs of the EB2 National Interest Waiver application for permanent residency, so you can...