EB-2 NIW: Teaching is not an Area of "National Importance" (!?$#)

This post will elaborate on something completely non-intuitive, that USCIS hates it when you talk about teaching in an EB-2 NIW petition. Same thing with patient care.

One of the limited ways to self-petition for U.S. permanent resident status (green card status) is through EB-2 NIW. I discuss this in various other articles found elsewhere in this newsletter. Some examples of my prior articles:

• EB-2 NIW Primer

• EB-2 NIW Deep Dive into Prong 1 of Matter of Dhanasar

• EB-2 NIW Eligibility Based on STEM

As discussed in the above linked articles, USCIS officers adjudicate EB-2 NIW petitions based on the standard set out by an administrative law case called Matter of Dhanasar. That case makes clear that USCIS is hostile to “teaching” as an activity of “national importance” to support an EB-2 NIW case.

This post (beyond the paywall) will elaborate on the way USCIS looks at the issue of teaching, including how the ‘disfavoring of teaching’ ends up being applied in a variety of weird ways.

And to be clear, I think it is irrational and bad policy on the part of USCIS adjudicators to NOT consider “teaching” an activity of “national importance” but it doesn’t matter what my opinion is. We have to take the system as it is, and talking about teaching is a potentially fatal way to frame an EB-2 NIW case.