EB-2 national interest waiver
Work
The EB-2 national interest waiver lets you petition for your own green card with no employer, no job offer, and no labor certification. USCIS may waive those requirements when your work has substantial merit and national importance, under the three-part test set out in Matter of Dhanasar, 26 I&N Dec. 884 (AAO 2016).
The forms
The immigrant petition for a worker — the employment-based green card petition.
The green card application itself — registering permanent residence from inside the U.S.
The work permit application, so you can work legally while your case is pending.
The travel document application — advance parole while a case is pending, or a re-entry permit.
Why this route
You sponsor yourself. There is no job offer to secure and no company whose plans your green card depends on.
You skip the Department of Labor market test, which is the step that adds most of the waiting to an employer-sponsored green card.
You can change jobs, start a company, or work independently, as long as you continue in the field your petition described.
Your spouse and unmarried children under 21 can get green cards on the same petition.
Requirements
There are two layers, and you must satisfy both. The first is the EB-2 category itself; the second is the waiver.
The steps
Degrees, recommendation letters, publications, patents, citations, press, and anything else showing what your work has achieved and where it is going.
Your petition goes to USCIS. Premium processing is available if you want a decision on a fixed clock.
Once the I-140 is approved and your priority date is current on the Visa Bulletin, you apply to adjust status to permanent resident.
How it works
In English, Spanish, or Portuguese. The software puts your answers on the official USCIS forms.
Your evidence is sorted into a numbered exhibit index, and every field, signature, and document is checked for completeness.
Download the assembled packet and file it yourself — or have an independent licensed attorney review and file it for you.
Pricing
Your exact technology fee depends on your petition type and is shown during the free eligibility check, before you pay anything. USCIS filing fees are set by the government and paid by you directly to USCIS.
Questions
Yes — the EB-2 national interest waiver is an employment-based green card with no employer needed, one of the self-petition paths. The free check shows what a case like yours involves.
It depends on the petition. The self-petition paths need no employer. Petitions like the H-1B or L-1 are submitted by an employer, so they are not sold as self-help drafts here — each of those pages explains the path.
There are two routes: the E-2 treaty investor visa (a visa, not a green card) and the EB-5 investor green card, which involves an $800,000 investment and needs an immigration lawyer. Each page explains the path.
Go deeper
Sources
EB-2 national interest waiver