NIW Proposed Endeavor Examples: How to Define Yours

In an EB-2 National Interest Waiver (NIW) petition, the proposed endeavor is the specific work you intend to pursue in the United States. It isn't your job title or your field. It's the work itself: the problem it addresses, how you will pursue it, and who it may benefit. Describing that work clearly helps organize the petition. Eligibility, though, depends on your qualifications, the proposed work, and the evidence in the record, not on the wording of one statement.

The legal framework

EB-2 qualification comes first. An NIW applicant must separately qualify for the EB-2 category, either as a member of the professions holding an advanced degree or as a person of exceptional ability (USCIS Policy Manual, Vol. 6, Part F, Ch. 5). The NIW test described below doesn't replace that requirement.

The three Dhanasar prongs. Under Matter of Dhanasar, 26 I&N Dec. 884 (AAO 2016), USCIS may grant a national interest waiver when the petitioner shows that:

the proposed endeavor has both substantial merit and national importance;
the petitioner is well positioned to advance the proposed endeavor; and
on balance, it would benefit the United States to waive the job offer and labor certification requirements.

Two points from Dhanasar that are often misread (pp. 889–890). National importance doesn't require that the work be carried out nationwide; what matters is the endeavor's potential prospective impact. And being "well positioned" doesn't require proving that the endeavor will more likely than not succeed.

Where the work happens is different from how far its effects reach. Work performed for one employer can qualify. The concern is an endeavor whose prospective benefits are confined to that employer. In Dhanasar, the AAO discussed teaching as an example. It found that, on the evidence presented, the benefits of an individual's teaching activities would not reach beyond their own students in a way that shows national importance. That was a finding about the record in that case, not a rule that whole occupations are excluded.

Priority labels and ownership don't decide the case. The Policy Manual recognizes that work in areas the government has identified as important, such as critical and emerging technologies, can be relevant to national importance. A priority-field label, or owning your own company, doesn't establish eligibility by itself. The record must show it.

Hypothetical examples by field

These hypothetical examples illustrate specificity, not eligibility. None establishes the NIW requirements by itself. The evidence suggestions are illustrative, not mandatory checklists; the relevant evidence depends on the proposed work and the applicant's circumstances.

Software and AI

Field-level: "I will work as a machine learning engineer in the United States."

More specific: "I will develop and deploy methods for detecting and correcting model drift in machine-learning systems used for fraud detection by U.S. payment processors and community banks."

Evidence that could support it: validation results for the methods, deployment plans, and evidence of interest from users such as banks or processors.
Question to answer: What supports the claimed significance of deployment beyond ordinary benefits to participating businesses?

Biomedical research

Field-level: "I will continue my research in immunology."

More specific: "I will develop T-cell assays intended to predict which patients with autoimmune disease will respond to biologic therapies, through laboratory work and collaborations with academic medical centers."

Evidence that could support it: publications and citations, independent use of your methods, funding, and collaboration letters.
Question to answer: What supports the assays' potential clinical usefulness and the applicant's role in developing them?

Engineering and infrastructure

Field-level: "I am a civil engineer specializing in structures."

More specific: "I will design and validate retrofit methods intended to extend the service life of aging prestressed-concrete highway bridges, using sensor-based condition monitoring to prioritize repairs."

Evidence that could support it: field results, adoption or evaluation by transportation agencies, and the engineering record behind the methods.
Question to answer: What supports the methods' broader engineering or public-infrastructure significance?

Energy

Field-level: "I will work in renewable energy."

More specific: "I will develop control software that helps distribution utilities integrate rooftop solar and battery storage without voltage instability on existing rural feeders."

Evidence that could support it: pilot data, utility interest or agreements, and your prior work on grid control.
Question to answer: What supports the software's potential contribution to grid reliability?

Entrepreneurship

Field-level: "I will run my startup."

More specific: "Through my company, I will commercialize a sensor platform that detects early crop disease for small and mid-sized U.S. farms."

Evidence that could support it: a business plan, investment, revenue, customer or pilot commitments, and progress to date. Any projected manufacturing or hiring should reflect plans that are supported and corroborated in the record, not assumptions.
Question to answer: What supports the projected agricultural benefits and commercial feasibility?

Medicine

Field-level: "I will practice internal medicine."

More specific: "I will expand and study a hospital-based protocol for early sepsis identification in rural emergency departments."

Evidence that could support it: outcome data, adoption or interest by other hospitals, and your clinical and research record.
Question to answer: What supports the protocol's potential effects beyond the initial hospital?

A separate physician NIW exists for physicians who agree to work full time in a designated underserved area or at a Veterans Affairs facility. It follows its own requirements under 8 CFR 204.12.

Getting the scope right

A field-level statement ("advancing artificial intelligence") is hard to connect to any one person's evidence. A statement about a single internal task ("maintaining my employer's billing system") may describe valuable work but suggest benefits confined to that employer. A useful description sits between the two. It names the problem, the approach, the people or sectors who may benefit, and the setting where you will do the work.

Describe your actual plans and explain how your experience supports them. Avoid adding activities or projected benefits that you do not genuinely intend to pursue or cannot substantiate.

How the endeavor connects to each prong

Substantial merit and national importance. Dhanasar looks at the endeavor's potential prospective impact, such as broader implications for a field, significant potential to employ U.S. workers, or other substantial positive economic effects (Dhanasar). The description should make the claimed impact clear, and the evidence (independent reports, adoption by others, industry data) should support it.

Well positioned to advance the endeavor. Dhanasar lists factors including education, skills and knowledge, a record of success in related or similar efforts, a model or plan for future activities, progress toward the endeavor, and the interest of potential customers, users, investors, or other relevant parties. Each factor is judged against the endeavor as described, which is one reason the description should reflect the work you actually plan to do.

Balancing. Dhanasar's factors include whether it would be impractical for the petitioner to obtain a job offer or labor certification, whether the United States would benefit even assuming qualified U.S. workers are available, and whether the national interest in the contributions is sufficiently urgent. A self-directed endeavor can support the impracticality factor, but ownership or independence isn't a universal requirement. The Policy Manual states that an existing or possible labor certification doesn't preclude an NIW.

Keeping the record consistent

Form I-140 asks NIW self-petitioners for a job title, an SOC code, and a nontechnical description of the job, which USCIS uses to understand the proposed endeavor (USCIS I-140 filing guidance). These entries, the petition letter, and your personal statement should describe the same work without repeating each other word for word. Keep descriptions of the proposed endeavor substantively consistent across the record. Recommendation letters may address past work, future plans, or both, depending on the writer's knowledge; explain how the relevant experience supports the endeavor. When the descriptions point in different directions, the officer may question what the endeavor actually is.

The description should also look forward. Past achievements are evidence that you are well positioned, while the endeavor describes the work you will do in the United States. Add plain-language context where technical terms would otherwise keep a non-expert officer from following the work.

Clarify the endeavor without materially replacing it

An RFE response may explain the original proposed endeavor in greater detail and provide evidence supporting eligibility at filing. Replacing it with materially different work to cure an eligibility problem can require a new petition. Whether a revision clarifies or materially changes the endeavor depends on the original filing, the revised explanation, and the supporting record.

The material-change principle is often traced to Matter of Izummi, 22 I&N Dec. 169 (Assoc. Comm'r 1998), which arose in the immigrant investor context. For an illustration of how the AAO has treated a changed endeavor in an NIW appeal, see this nonprecedent AAO decision of May 24, 2023. It is an example of one outcome on one record, not a binding rule.

Frequently asked questions

Can my proposed endeavor relate to my current job? Yes. Work performed for an employer can qualify. The question is whether the endeavor's prospective benefits reach beyond that employer, and whether the record shows it.

Can I have more than one endeavor? Related activities can support a single endeavor. A coherent description is usually easier for an officer to evaluate than a list of unrelated goals.

Do I need a business plan? Not every NIW petition requires a formal business plan. The appropriate evidence depends on the endeavor. A founder may use a business plan supported by independent evidence; a researcher may use a research plan, funding documentation, and evidence of collaborations. Dhanasar lists "a model or plan for future activities" as one of the well-positioned factors.

Does the endeavor need to be in a government priority area? No. Work in a priority area can be relevant to national importance, but the label alone doesn't establish it, and endeavors outside those areas can qualify when the record shows their prospective impact.

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