The New and Much Improved Standard for National Interest Waivers under Matter of Dhanasar and Why this is Important for Entrepreneurs and Employers
On December 27, 2016, the Administrative Appeals Office (“AAO”) issued a precedent decision, Matter of Dhanasar , 26 I&N Dec. 884 (AAO 2016), vacating the 1998 decision is Matter of New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT), 22 I&N Dec. 215 (Acting Assoc. Comm’r 1998). Subsequently, on March 8, 2017, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) confirmed that they resumed processing of National Interest Waiver (“NIW”) petitions in light of the new decision in Dhanasar . The central issue in both of these decisions is the proper framework for determining whether a foreign national filing an EB-2 Immigrant Petition as a member of the professions holding an advanced degree or as an individual of exceptional ability in the sciences, arts, or business is eligible for a discretionary waiver of the job offer and labor certification requirements that would ordinarily be required to file an immigrant petition. There are no statutory guidelines ...