AI Priorities and EB-2 NIW: How to Align Your Petition Today

The EB-2 NIW is today one of the most sought-after paths to a green card for a direct reason: it’s one of the few categories that allows professionals to petition on their own, without depending on a job offer. This autonomy has attracted a record number of applicants, and with it, much greater scrutiny from U.S. authorities. Understanding how to position the petition in light of the country’s technology priorities, especially artificial intelligence, has become a decisive factor between approval and a request for additional evidence.

A Surge in Demand

The numbers tell the story. National Interest Waiver petitions jumped from about 22,000 in fiscal year 2022 to more than 66,000 in fiscal year 2025, nearly triple in three years. That growth has come with tougher scrutiny: in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2025, the NIW denial rate reached 64.3%, the first time in a single quarter that more petitions were denied than approved. For the year as a whole, the denial rate stood at around 44.8%, compared to just over 4% in 2022.

Much of this denial rate, often driven by RFEs (Requests for Evidence), stems from vague or generic arguments about the candidate’s contribution. In such a competitive environment, the most effective strategy for meeting the national importance test set by the Matter of Dhanasar precedent is to connect the petition directly to the country’s priority technology mandate.

The Three Pillars of Dhanasar

The NIW is evaluated under three requirements set out in the Matter of Dhanasar precedent. First, the proposed endeavor must have substantial merit and national importance. Second, the candidate must be well positioned to advance it, taking into account education, experience, track record of success, and concrete plans. Third, the petition must show that, on balance, it benefits the United States to waive the job offer requirement and labor certification. Aligning with AI priorities mainly strengthens the first pillar, but the petition only holds up when all three are firmly tied together.

AI at the Top of the Agenda

In July 2025, the U.S. government published the Americas AI Action Plan, which treats global leadership in artificial intelligence as a national security imperative. AI ranks as the number-one priority on the technology agenda, and the plan lays out specific research and development fronts, valuable material for demonstrating the first requirement of the Dhanasar standard: substantial merit and national importance.

Among the fields explicitly cited are:

• Life sciences and health: AI-assisted drug discovery and chemical synthesis, whole genome sequencing, protein structure modeling, and biosecurity.
• Next-generation manufacturing: robotics and autonomous systems (drones and autonomous vehicles), manufacturing technologies, and hardware supply chain resilience.
• Energy and electrical infrastructure: nuclear fission and fusion, advanced geothermal energy, grid management, and efficient energy solutions for data centers.
• Hardware and semiconductors: reindustrialization of chip manufacturing, AI semiconductor design, and hardware security.
• Cybersecurity and AI safety: model interpretability and control, protection against adversarial attacks (data poisoning and deepfakes), and incident response in critical infrastructure.
• Foundational AI and data science: theoretical and experimental research, creation of large scientific datasets, and training of specialized talent.

How to Define the Endeavor

Aligning the proposed endeavor with one of these fronts requires clarity about AI’s concrete role in the work. In a drug discovery project, for example, it’s worth demonstrating how artificial intelligence shortens development timelines for rare diseases or guides the design of drug candidates for future trials. The more tangible the connection between the technology and the national benefit, the stronger the argument.

Proving Your Own Expertise

Anchoring the petition in a national priority only solves part of the challenge. The EB-2 NIW also requires proving that the candidate is qualified to carry out that endeavor. USCIS adjudicators want to see how the petitioner’s education and professional trajectory prepare them to deliver on what they promise.

In practice, this means gathering concrete evidence: a graduate degree with a specialization in the field, scientific papers in which AI was part of the methodology, and a verifiable track record in the sector. Reputation in the field tends to be strengthened by recommendation letters from other recognized experts, written specifically rather than generically.

The Time Argument

Finally, the petition must convince USCIS that the country cannot afford to wait for the traditional labor certification process. The argument is straightforward: subjecting the professional to PERM, which can take about two years, would delay strategic AI advances and put the United States at a disadvantage against international competitors. Demonstrating this opportunity cost, the harm to the national interest caused by the delay, tends to be the link that closes the third requirement of the Dhanasar standard and supports waiving the job offer requirement.

About the author

Victoria Harper

Editor-in-Chief

Meet the author

As a journalist and lead editor at Visto n’ Visa, Victoria helps ensure that immigration topics are covered in a clear, trustworthy, and easy-to-understand way. Her focus is on delivering useful, human, and relevant content for people exploring new paths abroad.