Green Card using National Interest Waiver (NIW)

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You Probably Have Not Filed NIW Because:

  • You don’t know the benefits of NIW; or
  • You don’t know if you qualify; or
  • You don’t know which lawyer to hire.

“What Can NIW Do?”

  • It allows you to petition a Green Card, for yourself, by yourself.
  • No reliance on employer.
  • No need to have a job.
  • You can file outside the U.S.
  • Approval time is about 4 month.
  • (Green Card time depends on the Visa Bulletin.)
  • (Set an appointment if you have more legal questions.)

 

“How To Qualify for NIW?”

  • Must have Advanced degree, or exceptional ability.
  • Must prove that your proposed employment has substantial intrinsic merit.
  • Must prove that your proposed employment is national in scope.
  • Must prove that you are among the most accomplished in your field.
  • (In Re New York Department of Transportation, Interim Decision 3363 (AAO 1998) aka “NYDOT”)

 

…Here is A Rough Estimate.

  • Generally, you qualify for NIW if you have done something that can benefit many people in the U.S. For example you have:
  • Journal publications; or
  • Patents; or
  • Authored a book; or
  • Etc.
  • (E-mail us your resume and we will evaluate your case for you.)

 

Why Hire Kenzl Law Offices

  • My name is Ken Liang and I have written over 100 NIW petitions.
  • I have a Rhetoric and a Economics degree from U.C. Berkeley. A Physics minor and a Law degree from Case Western Reserve University.
  • I have analyzed over 50 USCIS published cases on NIW in detail.
  • I have done appeals to the Federal Courts.
  • Over the years, I have developed a highly successful method to petition for NIW.

 

We Do The Following For Our Clients

  • Complete USCIS forms.
  • Write a 30 to 40 page petition letter.
  • Write 4 to 8 expert evaluation letters for your accomplishments.
  • Submit about 100 pages of evidence.

 

We Make Sure The Following Are Done

  • Prove that you are doing important work;
  • That your work is beneficial to several regions of the U.S.; and
  • That you are significantly better than your peers.
  • We also make sure that anyone at USCIS can understand our writing, and thereby your accomplishments.

 

You Want to Hire Us Because…

  • We know how to write the best petition.
  • Your petition will be as good as it can be.
  • We know how to get an approval.
  • We know the traps, and avoid them.
  • We over satisfy USCIS requirements.
  • We have accurate legal judgments.
  • Our method has been very successful.

 

In Fact, We Actually Make You Better

  • Everyone tries to show the whole picture. We find the whole picture and draw it bigger!
  • By working with a bigger picture, we have more perspective, and more evidence to support your case.
  • At the end, you will believe that you are one of the best.

 

100% Risk Free Guarantee

  • If for any reason you are not satisfied with our work, you may ask for a refund within 30 days.
  • Test our service now. If we do not meet your expectation, you do not have to pay.

 

START NOW!

  • Send us an email.
  • Make a phone call.
  • Make an appointment.
  • There is no risk for you.
  • You have nothing to lose, everything to gain.

 

I. NATIONAL INTEREST WAIVER (NIW)

A. The Purpose of National Interest Waiver 

The purpose of NIW is to get a green card through a proposed employment.  NIW is filed under Employment-Based Second Preference (EB-2), and the laws governing NIW is found at 8 USC § 1153(b)(2).

B. The Advantages of NIW 

Below are some of the reasons why we recommend NIW to our clients.

1. You can self-petition 

For NIW, You can petition for yourself, by yourself.  This means that you do not have to ask your employer to do anything for you.  In fact, you do not have to be employed to file for NIW.

2. You can skip the burdensome and time consuming PERM labor certification process 

Under PERM, your employer needs to advertise your job to the public; offer a salary set by government guidelines; draft a qualifying job advertisement; post the advertisement in several places; interview candidates; reject candidates; and certify under penalty of perjury that there is no minimally qualified candidate available.  With NIW, you can skip this process. 

3. You have job mobility when compared to PERM labor certification 

Under PERM labor certification, you cannot change jobs or accept promotions until after PERM is approved and you have filed both your form I-140 and form I-485 for at least 6 months.  This may take years to accomplish, and is much slower than NIW.  This lack of mobility could cost you tens of thousands of dollars in future earnings and opportunities.

4. NIW is the easier self-petitioning category  

Compared to self-petitioning under EB-1 Alien of Extraordinary Ability, NIW is slightly easier to obtain.  

C. NIW Does Have Some Drawbacks

1. You must have some accomplishments to get NIW 

The biggest drawback for NIW is that you must be somewhat accomplished to get NIW.  USCIS does not clearly state what level of accomplishment is necessary, but the experience of our law office is that, most applicants with at least 2 journal publications will likely get NIW, and most applicants with at least 5 journal articles will almost always get NIW (and usually EB-1 Extraordinary Ability Alien as well).  This is our experience; other law offices may differ.

2. You need recommendation letters 

Another drawback is that you need to get several recommendation letters.  This is not as difficult as it sounds because our law office can help write or modify these letters.  We also tell you how to find letter writers.  

 

II. THE SUCCESS OF YOUR PETITION DEPENDS ON HOW IT IS WRITTEN 

USCIS never meets with you face-to-face, and so everything depends on your petition.   

 

III. THE KENZL LAW METHODS 

To create the best NIW petition possible, Kenzl Law Offices can help you in one of two methods. 

A. Method One: You Act As The Expert And We Act As Your Lawyer 

In the first method, you act as a creditable expert, tell us everything about your employment, and we translate your words into a legally sufficient NIW petition.  

B. Method Two: We Become Your Expert And Act As Your Lawyer 

In the second method, you teach us everything that we want to know about your employment, and then we become your creditable expert, and then we take your theories and create additional theories on why your employment is important, and then we integrate everything into a legally sufficient NIW petition.  

The first method is easier to do because most lawyers do not have the ability to become experts.  Nevertheless, by putting in enough effort, we can become experts and give you legal advice at the same time.  This second method is difficult to do, but the results are very good.

 

IV. THE KENZL LAW ADVANTAGES 

Our law offices try to gain as much advantage for our clients as possible, and the following are what we routinely provide. 

A. Advantage One: We Look For The Best NIW Strategy 

The “Interest” in the National Interest Waiver should be traceable to an economic benefit.  Thus, when planning a NIW petition, we balance the economic considerations with the accolades to find the best NIW strategy.  This service is just one of the many other services that we provide that are outside the legal scope. 

B. Advantage Two: We Find and/or Create Useful Evidence To Support Your Petition 

Our clients often overlook important evidence.  Thus, one of our duties is to find useful evidence that can support the case.  We put ourselves in USCIS’ position and look for that USCIS would like to see.   At other times, the supporting evidence is there but is a mess, and so we have to use our skills to separate or recreate the useful evidence from the rest.   This is important but difficult to do, and we can only do it by first becoming experts in this field.  A lot of thoughts must go into the case to do this part well.

C. Advantage Three: We Use Creativity To Boost Your Petition 

There are many small advantages for each case, but it is impossible to identify them all.  Nevertheless, by learning about a case and discussing the facts with our clients, we can use creativity to discovery many new advantages.  And if the USCIS agent agrees that at least a few advantages are useful, then we have made meaningful impact on the petition.

D. Advantage Four: Our Petitions Are Easy To Understand 

If the USCIS does not understand your work, then you have no national interest.  Considering that most USCIS officers are not experts, your petition must be simple enough that an average person can understand it and see its benefit immediately. 

At Kenzl Law Offices, we write and rewrite the petition until it is simple enough that the national interest is obvious.  

E. Advantage Five: We Allow Unlimited Revisions 

To ensure that each client is completely satisfied with the petition, we allow unlimited revisions.  When we take on a case, we continue to revise the draft until our clients are satisfied with the end result.

 

I. NIW’S EB-2 REQUIREMENTS

To qualify for NIW, you must first qualify for Employment-Based Second Preference (EB-2) by satisfying one of two requirements: 1) you must be an advanced degree professional, or 2) have “exceptional ability.”

A. The Advanced Degree Professional Requirement 

To be an advanced degree professional, you must have an advanced degree, or else have a Bachelor’s degree plus 5 years of experience.

1. Advanced degree 

To be an advanced degree professional, you must hold an advanced degree (M.A., M.S., M.E., M.D. or Ph.D.) or its equivalent.   A side requirement is that proposed employment must also requires at least a Bachelor’s degree, or else is a professional job, such as a lawyer, doctor, architect, engineer or teacher.

2. A Bachelor's degree plus 5 years of experience 

A Bachelor's degree plus 5 years of experience in a professional or progressive occupation may also be considered as an advanced degree professional.

B. The Exceptional Ability Requirement. 

To satisfy the exceptional ability requirement, you must demonstrate exceptional ability in the sciences, arts, or business, through at least 3 of the 6 following criteria: 

(1) an official academic record showing that the alien has a degree, diploma, certificate, or similar award for a college, university, school, or other institution of learning relating to the area of exceptional ability; 

(2) evidence in the form of letters from current or former employers showing that the alien has at least 10 years of full-time experience in the occupation for which he or she is being sought; 

(3) a license to practice the profession or certification for a particular profession or occupation; 

(4) evidence that the alien has commanded a salary, or other remuneration for services, which demonstrates exceptional ability; 

(5) evidence of membership in professional associations; and 

(6) evidence of recognition for achievements and significant contributions to the industry or field by peers, governmental entities, or professional or business associations. 

8 CFR § 204.5(k)(3)(ii). 

As a final note, do not confuse the exceptional ability requirement with the much more difficult Alien of Extraordinary Ability requirement for EB-1.

 

I. THE REAL NIW REQUIREMENTS 

There are the statutory requirements, which are not very clear, and then there are the actual requirements, which are much more useful.

A. The Unclear Statutory NIW Requirements 

The statutory requirement for NIW is defined in 8 U.S.C.A. § 1153(b)(2)(B)(i) in merely one paragraph. As written, the statute reads: 

[T]he Attorney General may, when the Attorney General deems it to be in the national interest, waive the requirements of subparagraph (A) that an alien's services in the sciences, arts, professions, or business be sought by an employer in the United States. 

This statute does not give any standard for NIW, and the terms "may" and "deem," grant the Attorney General nearly full discretion on NIW. See Webster v. Doe, 486 U.S. 592, 600, 108 S.Ct. 2047, 2052 (1988).

The only restriction on the discretion is that the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) may not act arbitrarily or capriciously. See Chevron USA, Inc. v. National Resources Defense Council, 467 U.S. 837, 842-43 & n. 9 (1994).

B.  The Real NIW Requirements

Though court cases and Administrative Appeals, Kenzl Law Offices have identified the real NIW requirements.  NIW has 3 main criteria, and they originate from an important court case called In Re New York Department of Transportation, Interim Decision 3363 (AAO 1998) (hereafter known as “NYDOT”).  In the following sections, these 3 criteria are discussed. 

1.  First criterion, the proposed employment must be in an area of substantial intrinsic merit

The first criterion requires that the proposed employment be in an area of substantial intrinsic merit.  Substantial intrinsic merit means the employment benefits the U.S. national economy, culture, education or welfare in a meaningful manner.    

Generally speaking, each employment has a range of intrinsic merit.  However, selecting the correct intrinsic merit will make the rest of the petition easier to write.  Thus, it is important to strategically choose the best national area, even if that area is not readily apparent at first. 

A common mistake that many clients make is to focus on the substantial intrinsic merit of the field rather than the substantial intrinsic merit of their own labor.  USCIS will punish a petition harshly if the proposed employment is not correctly explained.

2. Second criterion, the benefit of the proposed employment must be national in scope 

The second criterion requires that the benefit from the proposed employment be national in scope, or else benefit a national goal.  To be national in scope, USCIS generally requires that the employment must benefit at least 2 states.  This is because USCIS has officially stated that a benefit limited to a regional, local, or private interest is not national in scope.  See Matter of _, EAC 98 042 50606 (8/18/98).  

Some legal writers believe that the second criterion is similar to the "interstate commerce" concept. See Austin T. Fragomen, Jr., Alfred J. Del Rey, Jr., & Sam Bernsen, Immigration Law and Business § 3:41 (West, 2004).  Under this interpretation, almost any economic activity tied to the economy of more than one state is at least partially of national interest.  

As for what may be national goal, USCIS has no official statement on this.  Thus, this opens up the petition to many possibilities.  In general, Kenzl Law Offices use past cases to infer what may be a sufficient national goal.  Not all national goals are equal and so to make the proper choice is a must.  The proper fulfillment second criterion sets the stage for the rest of the petition.  If used correctly, this is an additional opportunity to reinforce the first criterion of substantial intrinsic merit. 

3.  Third criterion, the Benefit from the Employment Must be Considerably Greater Than the National Interest in Protecting U.S. Workers through the Labor Certification Process

The third criterion is the most difficult criterion because the standard is subjective and the list of things to prove is long.  For this criterion, you must prove to the USCIS’ satisfaction that the benefit from your employment is considerably greater than the national interest in protecting U.S. workers through the Labor Certification Process.  

To prove this third criterion, our law offices will use every mean possible to demonstrate that the national interest is greater when our client is put to use in the proposed employment.  To write this section of the petition well, there must be a deep understanding of your employment and how it relates to the national interest.

 

I.  COMMON PITFALLS

A. Poorly Written Petitions Will Fail    

Many qualified applicants did not obtain NIW because their NIW petitions failed to clearly express their contribution for the U.S. national interest.  To ensure that petitions from our law offices do not suffer from this problem, we work extensively with our clients.  

B. Inaccurate Petition Will Cause Problems

We submit each draft to our client to review for accuracy.  We will continue to revise the petition until everything is accurate.  But more importantly, our law offices begin each petition with extensive interviews, thereby insuring that the starting point of the petition is accurate. 

C. Recommendation Letters Are Not Focused 

Treating recommendation letters as recommendation letters is a mistake.  These comments and supports from experts are better utilized as expert testimonies and creditable evidence.  Accordingly, these “recommendation letters” must be written uniquely.  By not writing them correctly, a significant amount of benefit is lost.  

 

I. NIW THROUGH CREATIVE MEANS 

Depending on the situation, our law offices have used creative means to support NIW petitions.  For example, one argument that we have use is to show that a minimally qualified U.S. worker is available but unable to produce the considerable benefit that our client can.  At other times, we demonstrate that our clients have certain necessary and unique knowledge.  We use this as an alternative to past accomplishment. See, Matter of _, A 76 852 039 (9/9/98); Matter of _, A75 379 778 (9/14/98).  Along these lines of thinking, there are many opportunities to substitute useful information to fulfill what USCIS is looking for.

 

II.  CONCLUSION 

USCIS has certain requirements for NIW petition.  These requirements are similar to what Congress has laid out to find useful workers for the U.S.  However, there are differences, and it is the fulfillment of these requirements that we base our petitions on.