Service detail

EB-2 NIW petitions, built on the classification USCIS requires you to prove first.

Since January 2025, USCIS requires the underlying EB-2 classification — advanced degree professional or exceptional ability — to be established before any Dhanasar analysis happens at all. If that threshold fails, the petition is denied without reaching the waiver argument. Proximate drafts every NIW petition to establish that foundation visibly, then builds the three-prong case on top of it.

What Proximate prepares

I-140 petition establishing the underlying EB-2 classification before any Dhanasar prong analysis
Prong-by-prong evidence organization: substantial merit and national importance of the endeavor, the petitioner's standing to advance it, and the balance-of-factors argument for waiving the job offer
Narrative built around the endeavor specifically, not the field generally — the distinction most prong-one denials turn on
Discretionary-factors review reflecting the August 2025 USCIS guidance on NIW adjudications

Best fit

Researchers, entrepreneurs, and specialists whose case rests on the significance of a specific endeavor
Petitions where the underlying EB-2 eligibility needs to be built out explicitly, not assumed
Cases previously denied on prong one for arguing field importance instead of endeavor importance
Firms tracking the draft EB-1A/NIW regulatory changes USCIS has signaled are coming

The question firms actually ask

Can we go straight to the Dhanasar three-prong argument?

Not since January 2025. USCIS now requires the underlying EB-2 classification to be established first — as an advanced degree professional or a person of exceptional ability — before any NIW analysis is reached at all. If that threshold isn't met, the petition is denied without ever getting to Dhanasar. Every draft starts there.

Governing authority

Statute: INA 203(b)(2), with the waiver at INA 203(b)(2)(B)(i)
Regulation: 8 CFR 204.5(k)
USCIS Policy Manual: USCIS Policy Manual, Volume 6, Part F, Chapter 5 — Advanced Degree or Exceptional Ability
Forms: Form I-140.
Controlling precedent: Matter of Dhanasar, 26 I&N Dec. 884 (AAO 2016) — the controlling three-prong framework, superseding Matter of New York State Dep't of Transportation.

What USCIS scrutinizes

As of January 2025, the underlying EB-2 classification must be established before any NIW prong analysis is reached.
National importance is about the endeavor, not the field — working in an important field is not the same as an endeavor of national importance.
Prong two is about the person's track record, not their future plans.
Most denials in the past two years turn on prong one.
August 2025 guidance added discretionary-factors review to NIW adjudications; draft EB-1A/NIW regulatory changes have been signaled.

Turnaround for this case type

Internal production time -- drafting plus internal quality control, once a case is in production and the file is complete. The clock pauses only for documented missing client documents or pending attorney feedback, never for workload.

EB-2 NIW

8 business days

6 drafting & assembly · 2 internal QC

Built for review control, confidentiality, and firm-owned judgment.

Proximate supports preparation and operational clarity. Legal strategy, legal advice, filing decisions, and final attorney review remain with the responsible law firm.

Richmond, TX search footprint

Support for firms searching locally around Houston and nationally.

Proximate works with immigration law firms in Richmond, Sugar Land, Houston, and across the Texas Gulf Coast, and supports firms nationwide through the same remote workflow.

RichmondRosenbergSugar LandMissouri CityKatyHoustonPearlandCypressThe WoodlandsConroe

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