EB2 National Interest Waiver Forum

[Anonymous User]

V10 junior in NY (with a US JD). Long shot, but does anyone have experience petitioning for an EB2 with a National Interest Waiver? The immigration lawyers i spoke to never handled cases like this (the typical petitioners are PhDs who publish) so thought i'd try my luck here.

[NoLongerALurker]

Very hard for me to imagine a lawyer qualifying for national interest waiver -- especially since the sorts of jobs that I could imagine maybe, possibly qualifying (national security..?) would also be the sorts of jobs where you'd already have needed to be a citizen to squeak in, anyway.

[totgafk180]

I can recommend an immigration lawyer if you msg me.

[Anonymous User]

V10 junior in NY (with a US JD). Long shot, but does anyone have experience petitioning for an EB2 with a National Interest Waiver? The immigration lawyers i spoke to never handled cases like this (the typical petitioners are PhDs who publish) so thought i'd try my luck here.

You'd have a better shot with an EB1. You need to hit three out of ten criteria, and already have one with a biglaw starting salary (high compensation). The others - publications, contributions, leading or critical roles in an organization - can be asserted with the right letters from impressive people. There's a lot of luck involved, but I now more than one biglaw lawyer who's got in that way.

[Anonymous User]

V10 junior in NY (with a US JD). Long shot, but does anyone have experience petitioning for an EB2 with a National Interest Waiver? The immigration lawyers i spoke to never handled cases like this (the typical petitioners are PhDs who publish) so thought i'd try my luck here.

You'd have a better shot with an EB1. You need to hit three out of ten criteria, and already have one with a biglaw starting salary (high compensation). The others - publications, contributions, leading or critical roles in an organization - can be asserted with the right letters from impressive people. There's a lot of luck involved, but I now more than one biglaw lawyer who's got in that way.

Just curious, but what years were the lawyers who successfully filed EB1s?

[Anonymous User]

V10 junior in NY (with a US JD). Long shot, but does anyone have experience petitioning for an EB2 with a National Interest Waiver? The immigration lawyers i spoke to never handled cases like this (the typical petitioners are PhDs who publish) so thought i'd try my luck here.

You'd have a better shot with an EB1. You need to hit three out of ten criteria, and already have one with a biglaw starting salary (high compensation). The others - publications, contributions, leading or critical roles in an organization - can be asserted with the right letters from impressive people. There's a lot of luck involved, but I now more than one biglaw lawyer who's got in that way.

OP here. Very interesting! Never thought biglaw associates can qualify for EB1, but will look into it!

[Anonymous User]

You'd have a better shot with an EB1. You need to hit three out of ten criteria, and already have one with a biglaw starting salary (high compensation). The others - publications, contributions, leading or critical roles in an organization - can be asserted with the right letters from impressive people. There's a lot of luck involved, but I know more than one biglaw lawyer who's got in that way.

Just curious, but what years were the lawyers who successfully filed EB1s?

Poster to whom you're replying here. I know of one who managed it in 2009/10 after getting laid off by a firm, another who received approval in 2013, a third in 2019. All had LLMs or JDs from T6 schools, publication records, sometimes a second masters degree, and experience in core practices at V5 firms. Takes time and money (to get the right lawyers on board), but is doable if you really want it.