Some people know their immigration goal: it’s to become a US permanent resident. They have the goal, but they’re not sure how to reach it. That is not to say they have no inkling of certain paths that might be open to them. It is to say they feel far from certain whether a particular path is suitable for them. When it comes to people like this, we say–to abandon the maybe trite path metaphor for a different one–that they’re looking for a dance partner. They are looking for someone to grab their hand and take them to the dance floor and dance with them all night.
The problem is that it’s hard to feel like you have a worthwhile dance partner, one without two left feet, if you can’t look down. Just as it’s hard to know whether you can use a particular strategy to get a permanent residence if you don’t know all of the particular strategy’s legal requirements.
In this blog post, we’ll look at one requirement you must satisfy in order to get an EB-2 National Interest Waiver. (To see the other requirements, check out The Brief Guide to the National Interest Waiver (NIW) Standard.
Quick Detour: What is the National Interest Waiver (NIW)?
The national interest waiver is a means for people to get a Green Card through the EB-2 preference category, even if they have no employer petitioning for them and even if they have no job offer.
It’s a powerful tool. And like most power tools, it cannot be used by just anyone. You must qualify to use this tool. You must satisfy each prong of a three-pronged test.
The third prong, what we’ll look at in this blog post, requires that you show that on balance, it would be beneficial to the US to waive the requirements of a job offer and of a labor certification, which the EB-2 preference typically requires.
How do you show that can you show that?
To evaluate whether you’ve satisfied the third prong, USCIS will evaluate certain factors. These factors may include
- whether, based on your qualifications, it would be impractical for you to secure a job offer
- whether it would be impractical for a potential employer to obtain labor certification
- the impact your work might have on the US economy
- whether your work might create jobs in the US.
To satisfy the third prong, you’ll want to submit strong evidence. But, how do you figure out whether you have what it takes to satisfy the third prong? The best way to figure this out–and the best way to figure out how you will fare on the other two prongs–is simple: contact an immigration attorney to discuss your case. Call us today.
We’ll look at whether you are in position to get a Green Card through a national interest waiver. We’ll see whether it appears you’ve found a worthy dance partner to dance away the night with.