Matter of Dhanasar: The Three-Prong Test That Governs Every NIW Petition

Every EB-2 National Interest Waiver petition filed today is evaluated under the same legal standard: Matter of Dhanasar, 26 I&N Dec. 884, a 2016 Administrative Appeals Office (AAO) precedent decision that replaced the prior NYSDOT framework and fundamentally changed how USCIS evaluates NIW claims.

If you are preparing an NIW petition — whether you are filing yourself or working with an attorney — understanding Dhanasar is not optional. The three prongs are the framework that adjudicators use to evaluate your case. A weak argument on any single prong results in denial.

Why Dhanasar Replaced NYSDOT

The predecessor standard, derived from Matter of New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT), required NIW applicants to prove that a denial of the waiver would cause actual harm to the national interest. This was an extremely high and vague bar. Applicants had to show not just that their work was beneficial, but that the benefit would specifically be lost or harmed if the waiver was not granted. In practice, it made the NIW available mainly to researchers in well-established high-priority fields with extensive publication records.

In December 2016, the AAO vacated NYSDOT and issued Dhanasar, establishing a new, more flexible framework. The Dhanasar standard shifted the analysis from "would denying the waiver harm the national interest" to a forward-looking, three-prong test that examines the applicant's proposed endeavor, their individual credentials, and a balancing analysis. The new standard was explicitly intended to make the NIW accessible to a broader set of professionals — entrepreneurs, healthcare workers, STEM professionals, and others whose work serves the national interest but who do not fit the narrow academic researcher profile.

In 2023, USCIS updated its Policy Manual to provide additional favorable guidance for STEM professionals and entrepreneurs within the Dhanasar framework — a recognition that modern innovation patterns don't always look like traditional academic research.

The Three Prongs of Dhanasar

All three prongs must be proven by a preponderance of the evidence — more likely than not. Failure on any single prong means denial. The prongs are evaluated holistically but each must be independently satisfied.

Prong 1: The Proposed Endeavor Has Both Substantial Merit and National Importance

This prong separates two questions that are easy to conflate:

Substantial merit asks whether the work itself has inherent value. This can be demonstrated in virtually any field — science, engineering, medicine, business, education, art, athletics. The bar here is relatively low; USCIS has found substantial merit in fields ranging from basic research to commercial enterprise.

National importance is where petitions most commonly fail. The work must have implications beyond a single employer, a local market, a regional community, or a narrow academic subfield. USCIS is specifically looking for evidence that the endeavor's impact would reach the national level — that it contributes to a national priority, addresses a widespread problem, or has the potential to influence policy, practice, or industry at a country-wide scale.

What USCIS has found insufficient for national importance:

• A physician working in a single clinic or healthcare system
• A software engineer building features for one company's product
• Research in a specialized subfield with no documented broader application
• A business operating in a single metropolitan market

What USCIS has found persuasive:

• Work explicitly aligned with the National Science and Technology Council's critical and emerging technology list (AI, quantum computing, semiconductor manufacturing, biodefense)
• Healthcare work in designated medically underserved areas addressing documented national shortage data
• Entrepreneurship with documented job creation plans at scale, verified external investment, or government SBIR/STTR grants
• Research cited by federal agencies, national laboratories, or industry bodies working on national priorities

A strong Prong 1 argument names the specific endeavor, explains how it serves the nation — not just the employer or the petitioner's career — and supports that claim with concrete evidence of national-scope relevance.

Prong 2: The Petitioner Is Well-Positioned to Advance the Endeavor

This prong shifts focus from the work to the person. USCIS is asking: given your specific credentials, track record, and history of success, are you credibly capable of doing what you say you will do?

An advanced degree alone is insufficient. USCIS expects evidence of past success that demonstrates competence. Specific evidence types that carry weight:

For researchers and scientists:

• Peer-reviewed publications — but what matters is who cites them. Citations from researchers at independent institutions who you have no working relationship with are far more persuasive than citations from co-authors or colleagues.
• Grants from NSF, NIH, DOE, NASA, DARPA, or other federal agencies that explicitly recognized your work as worth funding
• Editorial board appointments or peer review roles at respected journals
• Invitations to speak at major conferences based on expertise (not self-nominated presentations)

For entrepreneurs and business professionals:

• External funding — venture capital, angel investment, or government grants with documented investment amounts
• Acceptance into selective accelerator programs with competitive admission rates
• Patents with evidence of commercialization or licensing revenue
• Documented job creation data or revenue projections grounded in verifiable business metrics

For healthcare professionals:

• Board certifications and clinical credentials
• Documentation of service in underserved areas with shortage designation data
• Recognition from professional medical associations or government health agencies

For all profiles: Recommendation letters from genuinely independent experts who can speak to the petitioner's specific contributions. Letters must be from people with no direct supervisory or employment relationship to the petitioner, and they should explicitly address why the petitioner is uniquely qualified — not simply affirm that they are talented or hardworking.

Prong 3: On Balance, It Would Be Beneficial to the United States to Waive the Job Offer Requirement

The final prong is a balancing test. The PERM job offer requirement exists to protect U.S. workers by ensuring employers test the labor market before sponsoring a foreign national. Prong 3 asks whether the benefits of granting the waiver — getting this particular person working on this particular endeavor — outweigh the protections that PERM provides.

The key: you do not need to prove that no qualified U.S. worker exists. That is the PERM standard. The NIW is a waiver of that standard entirely. You need to argue that the national benefit of your work is substantial enough to justify bypassing the test.

Arguments that have succeeded:

• The work is so time-sensitive and strategically critical that delay caused by a multi-year PERM process would itself harm the national interest
• The petitioner's skills are so specific and their positioning so unique that standard recruitment is practically meaningless
• The petitioner is self-employed or an entrepreneur, making PERM structurally incompatible — you cannot advertise a position you yourself occupy and control
• Third parties (government agencies, national bodies) have expressed specific interest in the petitioner's work continuing in the U.S.

How Dhanasar Is Applied in 2026

The approval rate data reflects how strictly USCIS is applying Dhanasar. The FY2025 average approval rate was 55.2% — down from 95.7% in FY2022. The decline is concentrated in two areas: overly generic Prong 1 national importance arguments, and underdocumented Prong 2 individual positioning.

Filing under Dhanasar today requires explicit, evidence-specific arguments for each prong in the cover letter. It is not sufficient to attach evidence and hope the adjudicator makes the connections. The letter must walk through each prong, cite specific pieces of evidence, and explain why that evidence satisfies the legal standard.

The US EB-2 Employment-Based Green Card Guide includes a complete NIW petition framework built around the Dhanasar structure — covering how to frame national importance arguments in your specific field, what evidence to gather for each prong, and how to write recommendation letters that hold up under current adjudication standards.