Articles Posted in National Interest Waiver

Written by Ekaterina Powell

Our office has extensive experience working on EB-2 National Interest Waiver petitions for scientists and researchers in a variety of academic fields. Many clients come to us after their NIW petitions have already been denied as a result of their first attempts to file the petitions without qualified attorney guidance.

Unfortunately, often times after careful review of the petitions it becomes clear that the scientist is qualified for NIW but the petition was done in such a way that it did not properly highlight the scientist’s accomplishments and did not articulate how the scientist meets the criteria for NIW petition.

We get a lot of inquiries from individuals interested in applying for green card through EB-2 National Interest Waiver (NIW) category. Attorney Ekaterina Powell from our office has prepared this summary of important considerations when filing EB-2 NIW application.

You may be eligible for an employment-based, second preference green card, if you are a member of the professions holding an advanced degree or its equivalent, or if you have exceptional ability. Normally, an employer must petition for its employees, and each EB-2 petition must be accompanied by an approved individual labor certification from the Department of Labor, which takes a lot of time and effort to obtain.

Instead of going through Labor Certification route, qualified applicants may submit National Interest Waiver request with their EB-2 petition without going through the Department of Labor stages. Qualified applicants may self-petition and do not need an employer to sponsor them for EB-2 category with National Interest Waiver.