The "national interest waiver" (NIW) is available to scientists or engineers who are doing work that is in the national interest and who have professional achievements that are substantially greater than their peers in their field. The NIW category is typically used by postdoc researchers and a few Ph.D. students to obtain the US permanent residence.

Qualifications for National Interest Waivers

The threshold requirement for a national interest waiver is a master's degree or "exceptional ability" in your field.
The main requirement is a three-part test. You must meet all three parts to qualify for a national interest waiver:

• What you do must be of "substantial intrinsic merit";
• The benefits of your work must be "national in scope" (not just purely "local" benefits); and,
• You must establish that your past record of achievement demonstrates that you can benefit the national interest to a "substantially greater degree than would an available U.S. worker having the same minimum qualifications."

Advantages of National Interest Waivers

The national interest waiver has the following advantages over the traditional labor certification route to a green card:

• You can file the petition on your own. That is, the petition does not require the signature of anyone at the university or company where you work.
• You do not need a permanent job offer from an employer in the United States.
• You do not need to go though the PERM labor certification sponsored by a US employer..
• You can file the I-140 immigrant petitions directly with USCIS with concurrent filing of your i-485 application (then you and your family members can obtain work authorization and travel document (allowing you to travel internationally) (This is not applicable to the Mainland China or Indian born NIW applicants due to the visa retrogression).
• You enjoy the flexibility of changing job as long as you keep employed in the same or similar occupation and continue to serve the national interests claimed.

How Can I Get Started?

Over the years, Xie Law Offices has successfully obtained hundreds of national interest waivers for postdoc researchers, industry scientists and engineers of all fields. If you have at least journal publications with some citations and if you are interested in pursuing a permanent residence (green card) in the United States, please email a copy of your updated resume to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it for free case evaluation. If you are represented by some else and you need additional services, you can use our fee based consultation services. Located in Atlanta, Georgia, we can represent clients in all 50 states! We look forward to hearing from you soon.