Last updated: November 2026. Quotes are from Volume 6, Part F, Chapter 5 as published in October 2026; the update history is as of early November 2026. Check the linked USCIS pages for the current text.
The EB2 NIW USCIS Policy Manual guidance is in Volume 6, Part F, Chapter 5, “Advanced Degree or Exceptional Ability.” The national interest waiver rules are in Section D of that chapter, “National Interest Waiver of Job Offer,” which has six subsections: EB-2 eligibility, NIW eligibility, the three prongs, STEM, government letters and entrepreneurs. The last NIW-specific policy alert is PA-2025-03 of January 15, 2025. As of early November 2026, the chapter’s update history shows no 2026 entries. The 2026 change NIW filers feel most, PA-2026-05, rewrote the evidence chapter in Volume 1, not Chapter 5.
Key takeaways
- The NIW guidance is Vol. 6, Part F, Ch. 5, Section D. Sections A and B of the same chapter hold the advanced degree and exceptional ability rules you must meet first.
- The Policy Manual is guidance that USCIS officers must follow. The statute, the regulations and precedent decisions such as Matter of Dhanasar sit above it.
- PA-2025-03 added Subsections D.1 and D.2 and made EB-2 eligibility the first question an officer decides.
- PA-2026-05 (August 5, 2026) revised Vol. 1, Part E, Ch. 6: USCIS may deny for missing initial evidence without sending an RFE first.
- The “Current as of” date at the bottom of a chapter reflects the latest change anywhere in the manual; the chapter’s own Updates tab shows when Chapter 5 changed.
What the USCIS Policy Manual is, and what it is not
USCIS calls the Policy Manual “the agency’s centralized online repository for USCIS’ immigration policies.” Its landing page explains the manual’s role: “The Policy Manual contains the official policies of USCIS and assists immigration officers in rendering decisions. The Policy Manual is to be followed by all USCIS officers in the performance of their duties but it does not remove their discretion in making adjudicatory decisions.” It also “does not create any substantive or procedural right or benefit that is legally enforceable.” In short, it tells you how officers apply the law. It is not the law itself. Many people call the NIW chapter the USCIS EB2 NIW manual, but it is one chapter of a 12-volume manual.
| Layer | NIW source | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Statute | INA 203(b)(2)(B)(i) (8 U.S.C. 1153) | Authorizes the waiver of the job offer |
| Regulation | 8 CFR 204.5(k) | Definitions and required initial evidence |
| Precedent decision | Matter of Dhanasar, 26 I&N Dec. 884 (AAO 2016) | Sets the three-prong test |
| Policy Manual | Vol. 6, Part F, Ch. 5 | Explains how officers apply all of the above |
| Form instructions | Form I-140 instructions (06/07/24) | Lists what to file |
The layers do not always use the same words. 8 CFR 204.5(k)(4)(ii) still asks for “Form ETA-750B, Statement of Qualifications of Alien, in duplicate.” A May 25, 2022 technical update removed the manual’s two-copies reference to match the I-140 instructions. The USCIS EB-2 page now says NIW petitions “must be accompanied by a completed Form ETA-9089, Appendix A and a signed Form ETA-9089, Final Determination.” For filing details, follow the current form page on the day you file.
Map of the EB2 NIW USCIS Policy Manual chapter, section by section
When people search for the national interest waiver USCIS policy manual, this is the chapter they mean. It covers all of EB-2, not only the waiver. In October 2026 it had 104 footnotes (23 of them cite Dhanasar, usually by page number), 23 linked resources, no appendices and 11 entries in its Updates tab.
| Section | Heading in the chapter | What NIW filers find there |
|---|---|---|
| A | Advanced Degree Professionals (1. Eligibility, 2. Foreign Equivalent Degrees, 3. Advanced Degree Position) | The advanced degree and bachelor’s-plus-5-years rules |
| B | Exceptional Ability (1. Eligibility, 2. Evidence, 3. Schedule A, Group II) | The 3-of-6 criteria and the final merits review |
| C | Professional Athletes | Athlete labor certifications; rarely relevant to NIW |
| D.1 | Eligibility for Second Preference Classification | EB-2 threshold, intended occupation, experience “in the specialty” |
| D.2 | Eligibility for the National Interest Waiver | Burden of proof, discretion, the three prongs |
| D.3 | Overview of the Three Prongs | National importance examples, well-positioned evidence, prong 3 factors |
| D.4 | Specific Evidentiary Considerations for Persons with Advanced Degrees in STEM Fields | Critical and emerging technologies; the Ph.D. as a positive factor |
| D.5 | The Role of Interested Government Agencies or Quasi-Governmental Entities | Government letters |
| D.6 | Specific Evidentiary Considerations for Entrepreneurs | Ownership, investment, incubators and accelerators, revenue |
Section D.1: EB-2 eligibility comes first
“To establish eligibility for a national interest waiver, a petitioner must first demonstrate the person’s qualification for the underlying EB-2 visa classification.” If not, “the petition is statutorily ineligible for the national interest waiver,” and USCIS may “issue a denial without reaching the national interest waiver determination.” The intended occupation must be a profession, and “the occupation underlying the endeavor is determinative.” Bachelor’s-plus-5-years experience “must occur after completion of the bachelor’s degree.” Our guides Who Qualifies for EB2 NIW? and EB2 NIW with a bachelor’s degree plus 5 years apply this section.
Section D.2: the three prongs, in the chapter’s words
“USCIS may grant a national interest waiver as a matter of discretion if the petitioner demonstrates eligibility by a preponderance of the evidence, based on the following three prongs”:
- “The alien’s proposed endeavor has both substantial merit and national importance;”
- “The alien is well positioned to advance the proposed endeavor; and”
- “On balance, it would be beneficial to the United States to waive the job offer and thus the permanent labor certification requirements.”
D.2 also warns that EB-2 qualification “does not automatically mean that the person qualifies for a national interest waiver.” For each prong in depth, see Overview of the Three Prongs of EB-2 NIW.
Section D.3: what officers look for
- Employer benefit is not enough: “Benefits to a specific employer alone, even an employer with a national footprint, are not sufficiently relevant to the question of whether a person’s endeavor has national importance.” See EB2 NIW national importance.
- Shortages are not enough: working “in an occupation with a national shortage” alone “is also insufficient,” and a labor shortage “would not, by itself, satisfy this third prong.”
- The evidence list is not a checklist: it “is not meant to be a checklist or to indicate that any one type of evidence is either required or sufficient to establish eligibility.” See EB2 NIW well positioned.
- Letters need support: “Letters may be persuasive when they are from experts in the person’s field who have first-hand knowledge of the person’s achievements,” give specific examples, “and are supported by other independent evidence.”
Sections D.4 to D.6: STEM, government letters and entrepreneurs
D.4 calls an advanced STEM degree, “particularly a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.),” tied to a critical and emerging technology “an especially positive factor,” but adds: “A degree in and of itself, however, is not a sufficient basis to determine that a person is well positioned.” D.5 says government letters are “not required” but “can be helpful evidence” and “can be relevant to all three prongs.” D.6 opens with “Not every entrepreneur qualifies for a national interest waiver.” It then lists evidence such as investment, awards and “admission into an incubator or accelerator.” It names no specific accelerator program.
Reading the chapter and unsure which sections your own case turns on? Our free EB-2 NIW profile evaluation checks your degree, experience and endeavor against these criteria.
What the January 15, 2025 update (PA-2025-03) changed
PA-2025-03, “Second Preference Eligibility for National Interest Waiver Petitions,” addresses how USCIS evaluates EB-2 eligibility for NIW petitions, “for which the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) does not certify the job offer requirements.” It was “effective immediately and applies to requests pending or filed on or after the publication date.” Its summary of changes to Section D:
- “Adds new Subsection 1 (Eligibility for Second Preference Classification) and Subsection 2 (Eligibility for the National Interest Waiver) and renumbers subsequent subsections.”
- “Revises and adds new content throughout redesignated Subsection 3 (Overview of the Three Prongs) and redesignated Subsection 6 (Specific Evidentiary Considerations for Entrepreneurs).”
Its highlights add examples on national importance, explain how USCIS weighs “letters of support and business plans,” and clarify “that not every entrepreneur qualifies.” Because of the renumbering, older articles that cite the three-prong overview as Subsection 1 are pointing to what is now D.3.
Chapter 5’s Updates tab shows three later entries, all narrow: a February 26, 2025 terminology update across the whole manual, an August 4, 2025 alert on Executive Order 14201 (male athletes in women’s sports), and a December 18, 2025 alert on professional athletes’ labor certifications. The STEM, government-letter and entrepreneur guidance dates from PA-2022-02 of January 21, 2022.
PA-2026-05: the evidence chapter NIW filers also need
PA-2026-05, “Evidence, Requests for Evidence, and Notices of Intent to Deny,” was issued on August 5, 2026. It “Revises Chapter throughout” in Volume 1, Part E, Chapter 6, Evidence, and edits Chapters 9 and 10. It restores officers’ “full discretion to deny such benefit requests without first issuing an RFE or NOID, as allowed by the regulations.” It also says the 12 weeks for an RFE response is a maximum, not a standard. USCIS no longer adds 14 days for notices mailed abroad. And a partial response counts as “a request for a decision.”
Chapter 6 has seven sections: A. Initial and Additional Evidence; B. Primary Evidence, Secondary Evidence, and Affidavits; C. Copies vs. Originals; D. Types of Evidence; E. Translations; F. Requests for Evidence and Notices of Intent to Deny; G. Derogatory Information Unknown to the Benefit Requestor. Three lines matter most for an NIW:
- A.1: “If all required initial evidence is not submitted with the benefit request or does not demonstrate eligibility, USCIS in its discretion may either deny the benefit request for lack of initial evidence or for ineligibility, or request that the missing initial evidence be submitted.”
- D.3: “Officers may reject or afford lesser evidentiary weight to expert opinions that conflict with the evidence of record or are questionable.”
- E.1: foreign-language documents need “a full English language translation,” and “a summary of a document prepared by a translator is unacceptable.”
What this means in practice is covered in Can USCIS Deny Without RFE NIW Petitions?
Related chapters to read with the NIW chapter
- Vol. 6, Part F, Ch. 2, Extraordinary Ability (EB-1A). Note that Part F, Chapter 2 is not the advanced degree chapter. The advanced degree rules are in Section A of Chapter 5.
- Vol. 6, Part F, Ch. 6, Physician. Its Section B covers the separate Physician National Interest Waiver.
- Vol. 6, Part E, Ch. 9, Evaluation of Education Credentials, which Chapter 5 cites for credential evaluations.
- Vol. 1, Part E, Ch. 8, Discretionary Analysis, which Chapter 5 cites for how discretion works.
Outside the manual, the USCIS EB-2 page has “National Interest Waiver Filing Tips.” It says they “address each eligibility issue in the order USCIS follows when adjudicating,” and that a petition organized that way “should assist adjudicators.”
How to check the EB2 NIW USCIS Policy Manual for updates
- Step 1: open the chapter and scroll to the bottom. Every Policy Manual page shows a “Current as of” date.
- Step 2: read that date correctly. In mid-October 2026, every chapter we checked, including Chapter 5, showed “Current as of October 02, 2026,” the date of a Volume 10 technical update on employment authorization. By late October, the Policy Manual home page showed October 27, 2026, the date of an L-1 fee alert. The date shows when the manual last changed somewhere, not that Chapter 5 changed.
- Step 3: open the chapter’s Updates tab. Each page has Guidance, Resources, Appendices and Updates tabs, according to USCIS’s guide How to Use the USCIS Policy Manual Website. The Updates tab lists each alert and technical update with its “Affected Sections.” The newest entry for Chapter 5 is dated December 18, 2025.
- Step 4: check the manual-wide list. The Policy Manual Updates page had more than 350 entries in late October 2026. Look for “6 USCIS-PM F.5” under Affected Sections.
- Step 5: read the alert itself. Open the alert’s PDF. PA-2025-03 and PA-2026-05 each state a purpose, an effective date and a summary of changes. You can sign up for email updates on the Updates page.
One claim online says a 2026 national interest waiver policy manual update names specific startup accelerators. We found no such entry in Chapter 5’s update history or on the Updates page, and the chapter text names no accelerator. Treat such claims as unconfirmed until USCIS publishes an alert.
How to cite the Policy Manual in an NIW petition
- Use USCIS’s own format. The alerts cite “Volume 6: Immigrants, Part F, Employment-Based Classifications, Chapter 5, Advanced Degree or Exceptional Ability [6 USCIS-PM F.5].” Inside the chapter, cross-references are pinpointed, for example “6 USCIS-PM F.5(D)(1).”
- Cite the law next to it. Pair each point with INA 203(b)(2), 8 CFR 204.5(k) and Dhanasar with a page number, as the chapter’s footnotes do.
- Quote exactly and date it. Note when you read the text.
- Do not treat examples as rules. The chapter’s own lists say no single item is “either required or sufficient.”
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is the national interest waiver in the USCIS Policy Manual?
Volume 6, Part F, Chapter 5, Section D, “National Interest Waiver of Job Offer.” The EB-2 rules you must meet first are in Sections A and B of the same chapter.
Is the USCIS Policy Manual law?
No. USCIS officers must follow it, but USCIS says it “does not create any substantive or procedural right or benefit that is legally enforceable.” The statute, the regulations and precedent decisions control.
Did the EB2 NIW policy manual chapter change in 2026?
As of early November 2026, no. Chapter 5’s newest update is dated December 18, 2025. The NIW-relevant 2026 change, PA-2026-05, revised Volume 1 on evidence and RFEs.
Does the Policy Manual list jobs that qualify for an NIW?
No. USCIS decides “on a case-by-case basis” whether the occupation is a profession, and it judges the endeavor, not the job title. Its examples show that classroom teaching or a shortage occupation alone generally does not establish national importance.
Preparing a petition around the current guidance? Start with a free profile evaluation. Our petition-preparation team will show you where your evidence meets the chapter’s standards and where it falls short.
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.
