The self-petitioned pathway for professionals whose proposed work serves a demonstrable U.S. national interest. No employer sponsor. No PERM labour certification.
The EB-2 National Interest Waiver allows advanced degree professionals and those with exceptional ability to self-petition for permanent residency without employer sponsorship or PERM labour certification.
The petitioner must demonstrate that their proposed work is in the U.S. national interest — assessed under the three-prong test established in Matter of Dhanasar (2016).
Prong 1: Substantial merit and national importance. The proposed endeavour must have substantial merit and national importance. Merit may be established across business, science, technology, health, culture, or education.
Prong 2: Well positioned to advance the endeavour. USCIS considers education, skills, knowledge, record of success, a plan for future activities, and interest from relevant third parties.
Prong 3: On balance, beneficial to waive. USCIS must find that the national interest benefit outweighs the standard procedural requirement of a job offer and labour certification.
The most critical single decision in the NIW petition is the proposed endeavour — the specific framework that satisfies all three Dhanasar prongs. This determination controls whether the criterion mapping is coherent and defensible.
Burlington Consult develops the proposed endeavour from your specific documented record, connecting it to documented U.S. federal priorities. This is not a generic statement — it is a bespoke legal argument built from your individual evidence base.
Burlington Consult files both EB-1A and EB-2 NIW petitions simultaneously as standard practice. This preserves the same priority date across both pathways, creates strategic redundancy if one petition requires additional development, and allows a single unified evidence record to be built once and deployed across both petitions.
One evidence record. Two pathways. One priority date. If one petition encounters a Request for Evidence, the other continues processing independently.