Matter of Dhanasar, 26 I&N Dec. 884 (AAO 2016), is the precedent USCIS uses to decide every EB-2 National Interest Waiver: the endeavor must have substantial merit and national importance, you must be well positioned to advance it, and on balance the waiver must benefit the United States.
Matter of Dhanasar is a precedent decision of the USCIS Administrative Appeals Office (AAO), decided December 27, 2016 and published at 26 I&N Dec. 884. It sets the test for the EB-2 National Interest Waiver (NIW). The waiver removes the job offer and the labor certification, so you can file the Form I-140 for yourself.
The decision's headnote states the rule: USCIS may grant a national interest waiver if the petitioner demonstrates "(1) that the foreign national's proposed endeavor has both substantial merit and national importance; (2) that he or she is well positioned to advance the proposed endeavor; and (3) that, on balance, it would be beneficial to the United States to waive the job offer and labor certification requirements."
Two points come before the prongs. First, you must already qualify for EB-2 — as an advanced-degree professional or a person of exceptional ability. Dhanasar applies the test only "after eligibility for EB-2 classification has been established." Second, you prove each prong "by a preponderance of the evidence" — that is, more likely than not. Even if you meet all three, the waiver stays discretionary: USCIS "may approve the national interest waiver as a matter of discretion."
The petitioner in Dhanasar was an aerospace engineering researcher working on hypersonic propulsion. The AAO approved his research endeavor. It also found that his proposed STEM teaching did not show national importance, because the record did not show it "would impact the field of STEM education more broadly."
Yes. Dhanasar uses "petitioners" to mean both employers and "individuals who have filed petitions on their own behalf (namely, self-petitioners)." The USCIS EB-2 page says those seeking a national interest waiver "may self-petition" and do not need a labor certification from the Department of Labor. The test is the same whether you or an employer files.
The three prongs, quoted from the framework section of Matter of Dhanasar (26 I&N Dec. at 889). You must meet every prong; failing one is enough for a denial.
You must meet: all three prongs, by a preponderance of the evidence
This prong looks at the endeavor, not at you. Dhanasar says merit can come from "a range of areas such as business, entrepreneurialism, science, technology, culture, health, or education." Economic impact helps but "is not required." Research and pure science "may qualify, whether or not" it leads to economic benefits.
For national importance, USCIS looks at the endeavor's "potential prospective impact." Dhanasar replaced the old phrase "national in scope" on purpose, to "avoid overemphasis on the geographic breadth of the endeavor." A local project can still be nationally important if it has broader implications — for example, "significant potential to employ U.S. workers" or "other substantial positive economic effects, particularly in an economically depressed area."
The endeavor must be specific. The Policy Manual says the endeavor "is more specific than the general occupation." In Dhanasar, the occupation was engineer; the endeavor was research and development on air and space propulsion systems.
This prong "shifts the focus from the proposed endeavor to the foreign national." Dhanasar lists factors "including, but not limited to": your education, skills, knowledge, and record of success in related efforts; a model or plan for future activities; progress toward the endeavor; and the interest of potential customers, users, investors, or others.
You do not need to prove the endeavor will succeed. Dhanasar says: "We do not, therefore, require petitioners to demonstrate that their endeavors are more likely than not to ultimately succeed." But you must still show, more likely than not, that you are well positioned to advance it.
Here USCIS weighs the waiver against the job-offer and labor-certification process, which exists to protect U.S. workers. Dhanasar says USCIS "may evaluate factors such as":
This list comes only from the USCIS Policy Manual's own examples and from recent AAO non-precedent decisions we read. Non-precedent decisions do not bind other cases; they show how the test is being applied.
Before Dhanasar, NIW petitions were judged under Matter of New York State Dep't of Transp. ("NYSDOT"), 22 I&N Dec. 215 (Acting Assoc. Comm'r 1998). NYSDOT asked whether the area of employment had "substantial intrinsic merit," whether the benefit would be "national in scope," and whether the national interest "would be adversely affected if a labor certification were required."
Dhanasar explains what went wrong. The word "intrinsic" invited subjective judgments. "National in scope" was sometimes read too narrowly, as a question of geography. The third prong caused "the greatest confusion": NYSDOT stated it several different ways, and a footnote's "influence" standard became, in practice, "the primary yardstick." The old third prong also pushed petitioners to compare themselves with unidentified U.S. workers — the labor-market test the waiver is meant to skip — and it fit self-employed people and entrepreneurs poorly.
So the AAO wrote: "Today, we vacate NYSDOT and adopt a new framework." The headnote marks NYSDOT "vacated." The new test keeps merit, replaces "national in scope" with national importance, adds a prong about the person, and turns the third prong into an open balancing test.
Dhanasar sets the legal test, not the fees. A Dhanasar-based petition is a Form I-140. Current I-140, Asylum Program Fee, and premium processing amounts are on our EB-2 NIW requirements guide, taken from the USCIS fee schedule (Form G-1055).
Dhanasar does not set processing times. Premium processing for I-140 NIW petitions (classification E21 NIW) means USCIS takes action — an approval, denial, request for evidence, or notice of intent to deny — within 45 business days; it does not mean approval. After approval, a green card still depends on priority-date availability in the State Department Visa Bulletin.
No outcome promise. Each petition is decided on its own record, and the waiver is discretionary even when all three prongs are met.
You can file an NIW yourself, and the Dhanasar test is public. The hard part is the record: a clear, specific endeavor, independent evidence of its broader impact, and corroborated proof that you are positioned to carry it out.
JustiGuide helps you organize your evidence prong by prong so gaps are visible early. A licensed immigration attorney should shape the legal argument and review the petition, especially on national importance — the prong where the AAO decisions we read most often found the record short.
The hard part of EB-2 NIW is structuring your evidence to the criteria above. Drop your documents and our team will organize them into a JustiGuide profile mapped to each requirement — so you (and any attorney you work with) start from an organized record, not a folder of PDFs.