EB-2 NIW for Entrepreneurs and Founders

EB-2 normally requires a job offer and a Department of Labor labor certification. The statute lets USCIS waive both when it deems the waiver in the national interest. 8 U.S.C. section 1153(b)(2)(B)(i). No job offer means the founder files as a self-petitioner; the only labor-certification paperwork is the employee-specific portion of the form (ETA 750B or ETA 9089), and it is never filed with or approved by the Department of Labor.

The framework was rebuilt with entrepreneurs in mind. Matter of Dhanasar, 26 I&N Dec. 884 (AAO 2016), which sets the governing three-part test, observed that "it may be impractical for an entrepreneur or self-employed inventor, when advancing an endeavor on his or her own, to secure a job offer from a U.S. employer." 26 I&N Dec. at 891 n.10. The Policy Manual agrees: where a person is self-employed in a way that generally does not adversely affect U.S. workers, or owns a business providing jobs for U.S. workers, there may be little benefit from the labor certification.

The entrepreneur section lists the evidence officers weigh, and it reads like a diligence checklist. Ownership, and an active and central role in the U.S. entity. Credentials showing the founder can run this particular venture. Outside investment in amounts consistent with industry standards, judged against what the endeavor actually needs in capital. Admission to an incubator or accelerator, which officers may treat as an endorsement. Awards and grants. Intellectual property significant to the field. Media coverage. Revenue growth and U.S. job creation tied to the founder's contribution. USCIS Policy Manual, 6 USCIS-PM F.5(D)(6).

The business plan anchors the second prong — whether you are well positioned to advance the endeavor. A detailed plan the founder developed, progress toward it, and the interest or support garnered from potential customers, users, investors, or other relevant entities are all listed factors. But a plan alone is not a case: business plans, while useful in explaining the person's objectives, should be supported by other independent evidence — a record that fits the plan, steps actually taken, and corroborated projections.

Letters carry real weight because startups skip academic peer review. The Manual treats review by prospective investors, retailers, and industry experts as the substitute: third-party letters from people with direct knowledge may have probative value across all three prongs.

The waiver sits on top of EB-2, so you have to qualify first as an advanced-degree professional or a person of exceptional ability — and for founders that turns on the occupation underlying the venture, not the diploma. The Manual's example: an engineer with an advanced degree proposing an engineering endeavor may qualify, but the same person opening a bakery may not, because the occupation of baker does not typically require a bachelor's degree. "The occupation underlying the endeavor is determinative." USCIS Policy Manual, 6 USCIS-PM F.5(D)(1).

A master's degree is not the only way in. A bachelor's plus at least five years of progressive experience in the specialty counts as a master's equivalent, and the alternative path is exceptional ability in business directly related to the endeavor.

What, specifically, will this company do? An endeavor is more specific than an occupation or an industry, and a startup petition has to demonstrate in detail how that specific endeavor meets the national interest requirement. USCIS Policy Manual, 6 USCIS-PM F.5(D)(3).

Who besides you believes in it? The evidence list is dominated by external validation — investors, accelerators, grant-makers, customers. A petition built on the founder's own projections invites the finding that unsubstantiated claims do not meet the burden of proof.

Does your background fit this plan? General experience in a field may not show you are well positioned to build a company in it; the bank-teller example is the officer's template.

Everything starts with how the endeavor is framed. It has to be specific enough to escape the category trap, and drawn so that its implications reach past the company itself. That framing decides what the plan must prove.

We build the record around external validation — investment, accelerator admission, grants, customer commitments, third-party letters. That is the evidence the Policy Manual credits; founder self-description is not.

We pressure-test the draft against the Manual's own failure examples — car dealership, consulting firm, job-creation generalities, the bank-teller mismatch — and rewrite anything an officer could dismiss with one.

And we tell you before filing if the venture is not ready. Sometimes the right sequence is a funding round or a pilot first, then the petition.