I assume that if you land on this web page, then you know what a EB2 National Interest Waiver is and you're looking for an example of how people did in the past... well, this is it. The goal here is just to share the notes I took while preparing a NIW petition in 2015-2016. There is no warranty that the pieces of information presented here are valid, exhaustive or will lead to a successful application. Only the instructions found on the USCIS official website can be trusted.
According to one of the USCIS guides (https://www.uscis.gov/eir/visa-guide/eb-2-employment-based-second-preference/national-interest-waiver), the petitioner must demonstrate in his petition that his request to waive the job offer requirement is in the "national interest". The main 3 requirements are:
show that you plan on working in the United States in an area of substantial intrinsic merit;
show that the proposed impact of your work is national in scope;
show that waiving the labor certification requirement would benefit the national interests of the United States.
For each point, documents had to be provided to prove the petitioner meets the requirements. A (non-exhaustive) list of documents is available on the instructions for form I-140 on the USCIS website (https://www.uscis.gov/i-140).
Basically, the documents should answer three questions: "What did I do?", "Why is it important?" and "How has it impacted others' work/life?" (and PROVE it, not just state it).
Example of documents sent for the concurrent filling of a petition (see https://www.uscis.gov/green-card/green-card-processes-and-procedures/concurrent-filing to check the requirements for concurrent filling. Some were optional, others mandatory) :
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Overall cover letter
G-1145 e-notification of application (optional)
Package 1: Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker
Check for I-140 filling fee
form G-325A for biographic information
form eta-750b in duplicate (given the small amount of space for questions 12 to 15, a brief answer could be given with the mention "please see petition package for more details")
Petition Letter (optional)
Additional documents:
► Curriculum Vitae of the applicant
► Advanced degrees (with evaluation reports or transcripts if available and good)
-- copied of original
-- if the original documents are not in English, certified translations are needed
► Immigration documents
-- copy of passport (first page, stamped pages and previous visas)
-- copy of the approval notice of the current non-immigrant visa status (I-797)
-- most recent I94 (I-94 history could be added)
List of potential exhibits:
► Proceedings or poster of selected international conferences (with pages of the program where the applicant's name appears)
► Material published on scientific web-databases, websites (this can be screenshots from the PDB or EMDB database for molecular scientists, for example)
► Main courses and certifications obtained
► Information regarding the projects / work done so far, like documents related to the approved grants (for example: copies of contracts, agreements, grants accorded / license showing the scope and impact of the petitioner's work, copies of grants or other funding received, listing the amount and terms of the grant as well as the principal and co-investigator)
► Articles or other published media discussing the field in which the petitioner is working and showing:
-- the intrinsic merit of the domain in which the petitioner works
-- the petitioner's field is national in scope (can be webpages from governmental agencies like NIH, or others)
► Articles or other published media discussing directly the applicant's achievements
► Membership in professional associations (official attestation letters from the association)
► Proofs of Awards received
► Proofs of participation as judge of the work of others as a peer-reviewer (thank-you emails for example)
► Invitations to international meetings or courses:
-- invitation mails
-- pages from the program of the meeting where the applicant's name appears
► Evidence of high salary (pay stubs / w2-tax return /or employment letter)
► Documents showing that the work is being implemented by others:
-- contracts with companies using the products / tools developed by the petitioner
-- documents showing licensed technology that were invented / co-invented and how that licensed technology is being used by others
-- Patents / licenses awarded to the applicant or her/his company with documents showing how they are being used and why they are significant to the field
Package 2: Application to Register Permanent Residence Or Adjust Status
Check for filling fee and for bio-metrics service fee
2 passport photos
form I-693 (Report of Medical Examination and Vaccination Record)
form G-325A (Biographic information)
Copy of birth certificate (and a certified translation if necessary)
Immigration documents
-- copy of passport (first page, stamped pages and previous visas)
-- copy of the approval notice of the current non-immigrant visa status (I-797)
-- most recent I94 (I-94 history could be added)
Last few pay stubs and employment letters
Package 3: Application for Employment Authorization
2 passport photos
Immigration documents
-- copy of passport (first page, stamped pages and previous visas)
-- copy of the approval notice of the current non-immigrant visa status (I-797)
-- most recent I94 (I-94 history could be added)
Package 4: Application for Travel Document
2 passport photos
Immigration documents (copy of passport, visa, I-797, I-765...)
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For a concurrent filling, the 4 packages were sent in the same envelop, each assemble with heavy clips (ACCO fasteners could have been used as well, but binders and folders tend to disassemble easily and were avoided. Some people also advice to not use staples). Each different exhibits was separated by a color paper on which was the title of the exhibit and a brief description of the following documents. A tab at the bottom was used to easily locate the different exhibits listed in the petition letter.
Processing time:
The processing times are accurately reported by the USCIS website (https://egov.uscis.gov/cris/processTimesDisplayInit.do). They vary from year to year and also according to the service center. The adjustment of application varies as well each year and may also depend on the nationality of the applicant.
To give an idea:
- the appointment for the the bio-metric was 4 weeks after my application was received, and the temporary work authorization card arrived one week later
- the I-140 approval was received after 9 months; it took an additional month to get the I-485 approval, and less than 2 more weeks to get the card itself.
Another nice non-official website is http://www.eb2niw.com/.
But again, don't forget, in the end, you must rely on the latest information and guidelines from the official USCIS website!
Good luck!