EB-2 NIW Dhanasar Prong-by-Prong: Building a Defensible Proposed Endeavor

The Dhanasar Framework

In Matter of Dhanasar, 26 I&N Dec. 884 (AAO 2016), the Administrative Appeals Office replaced the older Matter of New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) test with a more flexible three-prong analysis. The petitioner must show:

1. The proposed endeavor has substantial merit and national importance
2. The petitioner is well-positioned to advance the proposed endeavor
3. On balance, it would be beneficial to the United States to waive the labor certification requirement

Before the Prongs: Defining Your Proposed Endeavor

The proposed endeavor is not your job title or your employer. It is a description of the work you intend to do in the United States going forward. Every prong is evaluated against this endeavor, which makes it the single most important framing decision in an NIW petition.

Too vague: "Advancing artificial intelligence in the United States." This describes an entire field, not your specific work. USCIS cannot evaluate whether you are well-positioned to advance something this broad.

Too narrow:"Developing recommendation algorithms for [Employer]'s e-commerce platform." This is a job description, not an endeavor. It makes Prong 3 nearly impossible — USCIS will ask why a labor certification cannot be obtained for this specific role.

Well-framed:"Advancing scalable recommendation systems that improve information retrieval accuracy in large-scale digital platforms, with applications in e-commerce, content delivery, and search." This is specific enough to evaluate your qualifications against but broad enough that the national interest argument holds and the work is not tied to a single employer.

Prong 1: Substantial Merit and National Importance

Prong 1 has two components. Substantial merit means the endeavor has practical utility or broader significance — it must do something worthwhile. USCIS evaluates merit broadly: it can be economic, scientific, technological, cultural, educational, or related to health or public safety.

National importance does not mean the endeavor must affect the entire nation. The USCIS Policy Manual clarifies that work with impacts beyond a particular locality can satisfy this standard. Research advancing a specific subfield, technology with applications across industries, or work aligned with documented national priorities (critical technologies, public health, clean energy, cybersecurity) can qualify.

Prong 1 tends to be the most frequently satisfied of the three. AAO decisions suggest that most well-framed endeavors by credentialed professionals meet this standard. The cases that fail at Prong 1 typically have an endeavor that is either too vague to evaluate or so narrowly employer-specific that the "national" dimension is absent.

Prong 2: Well-Positioned to Advance the Endeavor

This is where most NIW petitions are won or lost. USCIS is not asking whether you are qualified — it is asking whether the record demonstrates you have already made progress toward advancing the endeavor and are positioned to continue.

The USCIS Policy Manual identifies several factors relevant to Prong 2:

• Education, skills, and knowledge: Advanced degrees, specialized training, and domain expertise that directly relate to the proposed endeavor
• Track record of success: Publications, patents, prior project outcomes, revenue or impact metrics — evidence that you have already advanced work in this area, not just that you plan to
• Model or plan: A concrete description of how you will advance the endeavor going forward — not a vague statement of intent, but a specific and plausible plan
• Interest from others: Employer support letters, investment, partnerships, collaboration invitations, adoption of your prior work by others in the field

The most common failure mode at Prong 2 is a record that shows credentials without execution. A PhD from a strong institution and a list of publications are necessary but insufficient — USCIS tends to look for evidence that your specific work has demonstrably moved the field forward. This is where employer letters describing the concrete impact of your contributions, citation evidence showing adoption by independent groups, and documentation of real-world applications become critical.

The drop in NIW approval rates from 95.7% in FY2022 to 35.7% in Q4 FY2025 is largely attributable to increased scrutiny at Prong 2. Generic credentials are no longer sufficient for many adjudicators — they want to see demonstrated impact.

Prong 3: Beneficial to Waive the Labor Certification

Prong 3 is the balancing test. Even if Prongs 1 and 2 are satisfied, USCIS asks: why should we waive the normal labor certification (PERM) process for this petitioner? The USCIS Policy Manual identifies several considerations:

• Impracticality of a job search: The endeavor may not fit neatly into a specific job that could be tested through labor certification — for example, research that spans multiple disciplines or entrepreneurial work
• Urgency: The benefit of the endeavor would be lost if delayed by the PERM process (which can take 1–2 years before I-140 filing)
• Benefit beyond the employer: The endeavor serves broader interests than the petitioner's specific employer — the work advances the field, benefits the public, or has spillover effects beyond the immediate workplace
• National interest: On balance, the United States benefits more from granting the waiver than from requiring the standard process

Prong 3 is where an overly employer-specific proposed endeavor becomes fatal. If the endeavor reads as "doing my current job at my current company," USCIS will reason that a labor certification can be obtained for exactly that role — and the waiver is not justified. The proposed endeavor must have a dimension that transcends any single employer.

Self-employed petitioners and entrepreneurs often have a natural advantage at Prong 3 because their work is inherently not tied to a traditional employer-employee relationship. Researchers working on problems with broad societal implications (public health, climate, cybersecurity) also tend to satisfy Prong 3 more readily because the national interest argument is more direct.

How the Three Prongs Interlock

The most important thing to understand about the Dhanasar framework is that all three prongs evaluate the same proposed endeavor. Inconsistency across prongs is one of the fastest ways to undermine a petition.

If your Prong 1 argument emphasizes national-scale impact on cybersecurity, your Prong 2 evidence should show a track record in cybersecurity (not generic software engineering), and your Prong 3 argument should explain why the cybersecurity dimension makes a labor certification impractical or counterproductive. When the three prongs tell a coherent story, the petition reads as a natural argument. When they diverge, the petition reads as an assembly of disconnected claims.

The Visa Backlog: A Practical Consideration

As of the April 2026 Visa Bulletin, EB-2 is current for most countries worldwide. However, India-born applicants face a backlog exceeding 10 years, and China-born applicants face multi-year delays. If you were born in India and are considering NIW, the backlog is a significant factor in your filing strategy. Many applicants in this situation file both EB-1A (which has shorter or no backlog depending on the month) and EB-2 NIW concurrently — see our EB-1A vs EB-2 NIW comparison for a detailed breakdown.

If you are considering an EB-2 NIW petition, start with our free eligibility check to get a preliminary read on where your profile stands against the Dhanasar framework.