Legal update (October 2026): This article describes a national interest waiver approval obtained under the legal framework in effect at that time. In December 2016, Matter of Dhanasar, 26 I&N Dec. 884 (AAO 2016), replaced the earlier NIW framework. Under the current test, the proposed endeavor must have substantial merit and national importance; the petitioner must be well positioned to advance the endeavor; and, on balance, waiving the job offer and labor certification requirements must benefit the United States. The petitioner must also meet the underlying EB-2 requirements. The original case history below is preserved, but its historical legal criteria and processing time observations should not be treated as current USCIS requirements or estimates.
National Interest Waiver – Part II
In continuation of our ongoing segment of national interest waiver approvals, we’re going to discuss another previously approved case. In this matter, the applicant was an Indian national but unlike today, the EB2 category was current for Indian nationals, and we could file an NIW application and there was no extra waiting period beyond normal USCIS processing times.
Historical NIW Requirements (Before December 2016)
- That the alien seeks employment in an area of substantial intrinsic merit;
- That the proposed benefit will be national in scope; and
- That the national interest would be adversely affected if a labor certification would be required for the alien.
National Interest Waiver Approved Case Part II
Degree: MS in Biochemistry
Position: Senior Laboratory Technician (This position was amended prior to filing)
Field of Expertise: Stem Cell Derivation
Publications: 1 (4th author)
Citations: 8 including self citations
Abstracts: 11
Recommendation Letters: 3
The applicant in this case was an Indian national. The NIW application was approved although a difficult request for additional evidence was issued that held up the approval for an additional two months. However, the applicant still obtained his residency approximately 14 months after filing. During the second half of 2009, our firm was regularly seeing some NIW petition approvals in less than three months. That describes our experience at that time, not a current USCIS processing time estimate.
By looking at the applicant’s job title at the time we took his case (tech), it would seem like a national interest waiver was a long shot. His publication record certainly did not help. However, we were able to identify some novel techniques the applicant developed as a tech and were able to convince his University employer to move him to a different position that is more associated with research prior to filing. This was certainly a difficult case but a case that we were very proud to get approved because the obvious accomplishments were just not there. If we took this case today we would consider filing a concurrent EB1 filing since the EB2 category is backlogged.