A self-petitioned US green card for advanced-degree professionals whose proposed work serves the national interest. A lower bar than EB-1A, and a different question — one that public-health, engineering, and education careers often answer well.
Omary Mzava and Adela Luswetula each prepared their own EB-1A self-petitions, and both were approved. Our first NIW files are in preparation and not yet decided — we say so plainly. The Dhanasar framework below is the published test every NIW petition is measured against; nothing here predicts your outcome.
In plain English, before the regulations.
EB-2 is the second-preference employment green card, for people with an advanced degree or exceptional ability. Normally it needs an employer to sponsor you and prove no US worker is available — the labour certification.
The National Interest Waiver is an option within EB-2 that can waive the usual job-offer and labour-certification requirements when the evidence shows the waiver is in the national interest of the United States — that is, the US gains more by letting you pursue your work than it would by protecting that job.
So the petition is not about acclaim. It is about a proposed endeavour: what you intend to do in the US, why it matters nationally, and why you are the person positioned to do it. Everything else — degrees, publications, letters — is evidence for that one idea.
The test comes from a 2016 decision, Matter of Dhanasar, and has three prongs. You must meet all three. Files fail most often on the first, when "important work" is presented as locally valuable rather than nationally consequential.
Seven steps, from a viability read to a package ready to file.
A review of your background, credentials and career trajectory against the Dhanasar framework's three prongs — not to score you against a checklist, there isn't one here, but to identify whether a credible national-importance case exists for what you actually do, and where the evidentiary gaps are before you commit to a strategy.
This is the centre of an NIW case and the piece EB-1A does not have: defining, in specific and provable terms, what you intend to do in the US. Not a job title or a research interest — a concrete endeavour with national stakes, articulated precisely enough to survive scrutiny on Prong 1 while still matching what your evidence can actually support.
Once the endeavour is defined, we map out what evidence is needed to satisfy all three prongs — degrees, publications, citation record, past outcomes showing you are well positioned to advance the endeavour, and the comparative case for why waiving the labour certification benefits the US more than protecting a specific job would. Unlike EB-1A, there is no picking a favourable subset — every prong has to be met.
We help identify who should write on your behalf and what their letters need to establish — typically that you are positioned to succeed at the endeavour, and that the endeavour itself carries the national importance you are claiming, not just praise for your general talent.
The legal brief that lays out the endeavour and argues each of the three Dhanasar prongs in turn, tying your evidence to the legal standard. This is where most NIW petitions succeed or fail — cases are most often denied when "important work" is argued as locally valuable rather than nationally consequential, so the brief has to make that case explicitly.
An exhibit list and table of contents cross-referencing every document to where it is cited in the brief, so the reviewing officer can follow the evidence prong by prong rather than hunting through an unlabelled stack.
Assembling the forms, brief, indexed evidence and letters into one complete, submission-ready package.
All three must hold. We draft the proposed endeavour first, then build each prong's evidence around it.
The endeavour must have intrinsic value and implications beyond one employer or region.
Your education, record, plan, and backing show you can actually do the thing.
The US benefits more from you pursuing the work than from the labour-certification process.
Before the prongs, you must qualify for EB-2 at all. An advanced degree does it alone. Otherwise, three of these six.
Official academic record — degree, diploma, or certificate from a recognised institution.
Letters from current or former employers documenting the years and the role.
Professional licence or certification for your occupation.
Remuneration that shows exceptional ability relative to peers — with comparative data.
Membership in associations related to your field.
By peers, government, professional or business organisations — for achievements and significant contributions.
Tick what you could document today and whether you believe each prong holds. Verdicts carry across our EB-1A and Canada pages.
Solid stops are our work with you. Hollow stops are government processing.
It is permitted — and sometimes wise — to file EB-1A and NIW concurrently.
Flat fees, published. Government filing fees are separate and paid by you directly to USCIS.
We arrive having tried to state your proposed endeavour in one sentence. If that sentence will not come, we say so.
Book a profile assessmentFrom written assessment to a filing-ready package you submit yourself.
You wrote it; we read each prong against the published Dhanasar framework and show you where it is thin.
See review tiersFull read, written list of weak points by prong, one hour to discuss.
Draft review plus rewriting support for two critical sections — usually the endeavour statement and Prong 1.
Rewriting support across every section and fresh guidance for your letter writers. Working sessions until you are ready to file.
Preparation support for a response to one contested prong or the threshold finding. Two working sessions.
Preparation support across every point in the notice: new evidence organised and indexed, letter guidance refreshed. Sessions until you submit.
Bring your CV. We will bring a first draft of your proposed endeavour, and an honest view of whether NIW or EB-1A carries it better.
