Last updated: October 2026. Every example below is hypothetical. The notes are checked against the USCIS Policy Manual, Volume 6, Part F, Chapter 5 (current as of October 2, 2026) and Matter of Dhanasar.
The EB2 NIW proposed endeavor examples below are 14 hypothetical weak and stronger versions, covering software, data, cybersecurity, engineering, energy, public health, laboratory science, research, education and entrepreneurship. The stronger versions all do what the USCIS Policy Manual asks for. They describe “the specific projects and goals” in a defined area. They lay out the “potential direct impacts.” They say whether the work happens through an employer “or some other way.” And they point to effects beyond one employer, “such as for a field, a region, or the public at large.” The weaker versions read like job titles.
This page is the examples companion to our guide on how to write a proposed endeavor for EB2 NIW, which covers the writing process step by step. Here, the focus is on seeing the difference.
Key takeaways
- All examples are hypothetical. None is a real client, and none is presented as approved.
- USCIS says an endeavor “is more specific than the general occupation.” A job title is never an endeavor.
- Benefits to your employer alone, “even an employer with a national footprint,” do not show national importance.
- The general importance of your field, a national shortage, or broad job-creation claims are each insufficient “alone.”
- A stronger sentence only helps if your evidence backs every claim in it. “Unsubstantiated claims would not meet the petitioner’s burden of proof.”
What the stronger EB2 NIW proposed endeavor examples have in common
Every stronger version below has the same five parts. Each part comes straight from the Policy Manual’s prong 1 guidance.
| Element | Policy Manual language | The weak version usually… |
|---|---|---|
| Specific work | “what types of work the person proposes to undertake specifically within that occupation” | Names a job title or lists duties |
| Area and goals | “the specific projects and goals, and the area of engineering in which the person will work” | Names a whole field, such as “AI” or “public health” |
| Vehicle | “whether the endeavor will be furthered through the course of the person’s duties at a particular employer or some other way” | Never says how the work will actually get done |
| Direct impacts | “clearly lay out the potential direct impacts of the endeavor” | Promises vague benefits such as “help the economy” |
| Reach beyond the employer | “broader implications, such as for a field, a region, or the public at large” | Describes value to the employer or its clients only |
A proposed endeavor template you can adapt
This template is a starting point for the first sentence of your endeavor statement, not a finished one:
“I will [specific activity] in [defined area or subfield] to [specific goal or problem], through [employer, own company, research group or other vehicle], so that [who benefits beyond my employer] can [direct impact].”
Each bracket has to be filled with something your exhibits can prove. If you cannot name the evidence for a bracket, narrow that bracket until you can.
EB2 NIW proposed endeavor examples by profession (hypothetical)
These examples are hypothetical and simplified. They are not templates to copy, they are not drawn from any approved petition, and they do not predict any outcome. Bracketed items stand for details a real petition would have to specify and document. Each note explains the difference using Policy Manual language.
Software, data and cybersecurity
| Profession (hypothetical) | Weaker version | Stronger version | Why it reads stronger |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Software engineer | “I will keep working as a senior software engineer, building and customizing applications for my employer’s clients.” | “I will develop and maintain an open-source tool that converts legacy patient-record exports from small hospitals into a standard interoperable format, building it at [employer] and releasing it publicly for other developers to adopt.” | The Policy Manual says adapting an employer’s code for clients is hard to show as nationally important “absent additional broader impacts supported by specific evidence.” |
| 2. Data analyst | “I will use data analytics to improve business decisions and efficiency.” | “I will build and publish demand-forecasting models that help regional food banks in [state] plan inventory and reduce waste, and share the methods with other food-bank networks.” | It names the projects, the area and the direct impact. The beneficiaries are a sector in a region, not one company. |
| 3. Data scientist / ML engineer | “I will apply artificial intelligence, a critical technology, to solve important problems.” | “I will develop and validate machine-learning methods that detect early corrosion in drone images of steel bridges, for use by state transportation agencies and inspection firms.” | The Policy Manual lists “certain critical areas of artificial intelligence” as examples of critical and emerging technologies, but USCIS still “reviews the specifics of each proposed endeavor.” |
| 4. Cybersecurity specialist | “I will protect organizations from cyber threats as a security analyst.” | “I will design, pilot with [utility] and distribute through [state association] a ransomware-readiness assessment and response playbook for small municipal water utilities.” | Benefits to one employer alone are “not sufficiently relevant.” This version points to public safety beyond the employer. |
For more on technology roles, see our EB2 NIW guide for software engineers.
Civil, mechanical, petroleum, power and renewable energy engineering
| Profession (hypothetical) | Weaker version | Stronger version | Why it reads stronger |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5. Civil engineer | “I will design roads and drainage systems as a civil engineer.” | “I will develop culvert-sizing and stormwater design methods that account for heavier rainfall for small Gulf Coast municipalities, and publish design guidance other engineers can apply.” | The Policy Manual’s own engineer example asks for “the specific projects and goals, and the area of engineering,” not “the duties and responsibilities of an engineer.” |
| 6. Mechanical engineer | “I will improve HVAC systems and help save energy.” | “I will develop retrofit control strategies that cut the energy use of rooftop HVAC units in older commercial buildings, test them in [number] buildings with [firm] and publish the results for building owners.” | A “novel and important manufacturing or operational process” that others can adopt is one route the Policy Manual names. |
| 7. Petroleum engineer | “I will work in the oil and gas industry, which is important to the U.S. economy.” | “I will develop and field-test a well-integrity monitoring workflow that detects casing leaks earlier in aging onshore wells, designed for adoption by other operators and for use in regulatory reporting.” | An industry’s overall importance does not transfer to one person’s work. The Policy Manual’s car dealership example makes the same point. |
| 8. Power systems engineer | “I will help modernize the power grid.” | “I will develop protection-setting methods that let rural electric cooperatives connect more rooftop solar without tripping feeders, working with [co-op] and sharing results through [industry body].” | Officers “focus on the nature of the proposed endeavor, rather than only the geographic breadth,” so a rural, regional focus can still work. |
| 9. Renewable energy engineer | “I will contribute to the clean energy transition as a solar engineer.” | “I will design and evaluate low-cost solar-plus-battery backup systems that keep vaccine refrigerators and critical equipment running in rural clinics during outages, and document the design so others can replicate it.” | It ties the work to the “significant potential to broadly enhance societal welfare,” with a concrete direct impact. |
Engineers can find field-specific evidence ideas in our EB-2 NIW guide for engineers.
Want a second opinion on your own draft? Send it through our free EB-2 NIW profile evaluation. Our petition team will tell you whether it reads as an endeavor or as a job description.
Public health, laboratory science and research
| Profession (hypothetical) | Weaker version | Stronger version | Why it reads stronger |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10. Epidemiologist / public health | “I will work as an epidemiologist to improve public health in the United States.” | “I will build and evaluate a wastewater-based surveillance dashboard that gives county health departments earlier warning of respiratory virus surges, and publish the methods for other counties.” | It names the system and the users, and it spells out direct impacts for “the public at large.” |
| 11. Medical laboratory scientist | “I will perform accurate laboratory testing in a hospital, and the U.S. has a shortage of lab scientists.” | “I will implement and validate a faster antimicrobial-resistance testing workflow for community hospital labs, and train labs in [network] to adopt it.” | The Policy Manual says working in a shortage occupation “alone, is also insufficient.” This version rests on what the work does. |
| 12. Pharmaceutical scientist | “I will develop new drug formulations that will grow my company’s revenue.” | “I will lead formulation research on a long-acting injectable version of [drug class] designed to improve treatment adherence in [condition], with its expected public health benefits documented.” | The Policy Manual says to show “the prospective public health benefits of the drug, instead of solely projecting the profits.” |
Education, STEM outreach and entrepreneurship
| Profession (hypothetical) | Weaker version | Stronger version | Why it reads stronger |
|---|---|---|---|
| 13. STEM educator | “I will teach high school mathematics, a vital profession facing shortages.” | “I will develop, test and openly publish a middle-school data-science curriculum, train teachers across [district or state] to use it and measure student outcomes.” | Classroom teaching “without broader implications for a field or region” generally falls short. In Dhanasar, the teaching component failed for that reason. |
| 14. Founder / entrepreneur | “I will start a company and create jobs for Americans.” | “I will launch a company manufacturing [specific product] in [county], an area with documented economic distress, with a corroborated plan to hire [number] local workers over three years.” | General claims about entrepreneurs and job creation are not enough. A startup should show “in detail how this specific endeavor” qualifies, and economic effects carry particular weight “in an economically depressed area.” |
Good vs bad proposed endeavor: six patterns to avoid
Every weaker version above has at least one of these patterns. Look for them in your own draft.
- A job title instead of work. “Senior data analyst at X” describes a position. The Policy Manual says the analysis “focuses on what the person will be doing rather than the specific job title.”
- The field’s importance standing in for yours. Reports on why cybersecurity or energy matters are context. They do not show that your endeavor matters.
- A shortage argument doing the work. A shortage can be background, but it is insufficient “alone.”
- Employer-only benefits. Revenue, client satisfaction and internal efficiency all stay inside one company.
- Several unrelated goals. In Dhanasar, the research had national importance and the teaching did not. Each part of a multi-part endeavor needs its own evidence.
- Numbers you cannot document. Hiring targets, savings or users reached need a documented basis.
How to turn EB2 NIW proposed endeavor examples into your own
Treat an example as a shape, not as content. Your own statement has to come from your record:
- Start from your evidence. List your projects, results, letters, adoption by others and plans first. Then write the endeavor those exhibits can support.
- Match prong 2. The endeavor you call nationally important must be the one you are well positioned to advance. Our guide to proving you are well positioned covers the evidence.
- Prove the broader impact separately. Our guide to EB2 NIW national importance sets out the evidence USCIS describes for prong 1.
- Get it right at filing. Under the Policy Manual, Volume 1, Part E, Chapter 6, RFEs are “not issued to ‘cure’ an eligibility deficiency,” because eligibility must exist when you file. Since August 5, 2026, PA-2026-05 also lets USCIS deny without an RFE when required initial evidence is missing. See our EB2 NIW RFE response guide for what a response can and cannot do.
Under Matter of Dhanasar, 26 I&N Dec. 884 (AAO 2016), USCIS weighs the “quality (including relevance, probative value, and credibility)” of evidence, not just how much there is. A short, specific endeavor backed by relevant exhibits gives an officer more to work with than a long, ambitious one.
How Skycap helps
Skycap Consultancy is a petition-preparation consultancy, not a law firm. We do not give legal advice or represent anyone before USCIS. Our complete I-140 petition package (from $750, payable in installments) includes drafting your proposed endeavor statement from your own record and checking it against your evidence for all three prongs. For complex legal questions, consult a licensed immigration attorney.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are these proposed endeavor examples from approved petitions?
No. Every example on this page is hypothetical and written for illustration. None comes from a real client or case, and none predicts how USCIS would decide.
Can I copy one of these examples for my petition?
You shouldn’t. Your endeavor has to match your own record, evidence and plans. Use the examples to see the difference between an occupation and an endeavor, then write yours from your exhibits.
How long should a proposed endeavor statement be?
USCIS sets no length. It asks for a “detailed description” written “in a straightforward manner.” A one- or two-sentence summary followed by detail on projects, goals, methods and impacts is a common structure.
Can a local or regional endeavor qualify?
It can. Officers focus on the nature of the endeavor “rather than only the geographic breadth,” and significant job creation is measured against “the population and economic circumstances of the relevant region.”
Do I need to name an employer in my endeavor?
Not necessarily. The Policy Manual asks you to explain whether the endeavor will be furthered through a particular employer “or some other way,” such as your own company or research.
Ready to test your own endeavor against these patterns? Start with our free profile evaluation, and we will tell you where it needs to be narrower or better supported.
Related guides
This article is general information, not legal advice. Skycap Consultancy is a petition-preparation consultancy, not a law firm. Requirements and fees change; check the linked USCIS pages before filing.
