Q: What types of applicants fit this visa type?

A: There are all different case types that you can argue would qualify. But, again, you always want to start with Kurzban’s immigration law sourcebook.

Inside the book, in the EB-2 National Interest Waivers section, 11 case types have precedent for qualifying. In those case types, you’ll see there are engineers, musicians, health professionals, entrepreneurs, business owners as well as information technology are separated into various sections in the book. It’s an easy way for a new attorney who hasn’t worked on a lot of EB-2s to consider. So think about STEM, so Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics.

If you have someone with a high-level degree or a lot of experience in those areas, they will probably qualify. Not all, but many in those areas will be eligible.

Sometimes you have to be creative and do some research because occasionally, you’ll get a case you’ve never heard of before. And you’ll say, I’ve never heard of what you’re doing, but let me look into it and see if this would serve in the national interest of the US because it’s something so rare or unique, and that’s where we start. So we try to start with the book. And then, from the book, we try to look at what is currently happening worldwide.

Q: What supporting evidence would be the best to show that an applicant will significantly contribute to that National Interest Waiver?

A: To answer that question about the evidence, it depends on where your client is at this moment.

We always start with three very basic recommendations. First, let me see a copy of your resume, your degrees, and your transcripts. That’s where we begin and try to understand our clients’ backgrounds in whatever country they were in prior to the application. We then talk to our clients about what they want and plan to do in the US, because there are several ways to prove their proposed endeavor. 

What you really don’t want to do is force a client into a situation by telling them “You need to open a business.” If your client has never been a business owner before, opening a business for them or opening their business won’t necessarily be successful.

Q: Does a shortage in the market bring new opportunities?

A: A shortage alone isn’t enough. You have to prove it, yes, that can be a starting point. However, you have to go beyond that. 

You have to prove that what your client is specifically going to do will have an impact, will be substantial merit, and your client’s well positioned to fulfill their proposed endeavor to go forward with it. So you always want to start with your client’s background, experience, and degrees.

Q: What areas do you not recommend for an EB2-NIW?

A: That’s a great question. I don’t recommend just general business administration. A client often comes to me with a background in business, and my response is, “Hey, you seem to be interested in finance. Why not get an MBA in finance in a specific area?”

So with a general degree in business administration, we wouldn’t file the EB-2 National Interest Waiver, unless that client also happens to be an entrepreneur with some success behind their background or under their belt. Attorneys–we don’t usually do EB-2s for attorneys.

Q: What is an RFE, NOID, and are they very common on the EB2-NIW? And how do you usually respond to one?

A: They are really common. A new trend we recently started to see this year is that in some cases you’ll get a request for evidence, and usually, a lot of the cases being adjudicated were filed three years ago. So we are now getting a lot of adjudications on cases filed in 2019 when COVID-19 happened. The officer usually comes back to say, “Okay, you said your client was going to do A, B, and C. Are they doing that? Have they created any jobs? Are they selling their products? Are they doing what they said they were going to do?”

At that point, if the client was a business owner from the beginning and never filed a business plan, they need to do it, and immigration’s asking for that. They often need to update a business plan because it’s outdated and things have changed.

When you get the request for evidence, or the NOID, the first thing you want to do is read through it carefully. A lot of the time, it is just a boilerplate, but you want to respond to every doubtful question or issue that the officer raises.

Many thanks to our guest expert Carmen and many people that expressed interest in our free live webinar! We are humbled by your support! 

We can’t finish without expressing our pride and gratitude to our Director of Sales and Marketing Marianella Manzur who once again showed her hosting skills. 

Looking forward to the next webinar! For more insights on this topic, download our FREE webinar PDF.