Immigration Site

Hey guys, I am new into this site and thanks for it, really helpful.

My question is regarding the difference between EB2 and EB1 NIW applications.... What determines the differences, anyone knows?

Thank you!!

Hi, welcome to the forum.

Im new to the business too. But Ill give you my opinioin.There are many sub catagories of these two types of visa. for EB-1 there is EB1-EA and EB1OR and some others. In NIW there is physician NIW or regular NIW. I am not going to explain those. Im just going to tell you the basic differences between EB-1 and NIW

In EB-1 you have to prove that you are at one of the top most places of a certain trade. For an example being one of the most well known scientists in a certain subfield of a certain science. One of the ways to prove this is to win the nobel prize.Certain University Teachers/Researchers can apply for EB-1 with lesser standards if the University sponsors(EB1-OR)

In EB-2 NIW, You should be either a Post graduate degree holder or a person of extraordinary ability. While you dont have to be one of the top of your field, You have to prove that your work has been and will be to the national inerest.

Most people get confused on this. Eb-2 NiW is not a less stringent version of EB-1. Two types serves different purposes. It is a possibility that someones credentials may clearly show that his one of the top most of his field, but still may be unable to prove that his work is toward National Interest, making him eligible to Eb-1 but not to Eb-2 NIW. For an example, a biologist who have discovered a new species of local amphibians and done many publications on that is undoubtfully is the top of the subject, but hell have difficulties of proving himself being of national interest. This is why some people get their EB-1 petition approved while the NIW get denied.

There are lot of controversial things about these visas. For example many say that one have to be at the top 2% of their field to get EB-1. By looking at certain people who actually obtained EB-1 Id say this is not always the case.

thank you very much for the information. I guess I qualify for EB-2 NIW.

I also wonder the importance of reference letters in this manner. Some people say that reference letters dont really matter, what counts is the letterhead and the officer just looks through those. Others say that the officers actually read them all and pay attention. Do you have any clue on which side is correct? Or maybe there is no standard and thats why the response time in peoples app varies. I obtained 14 letters but now I think that is way too much :-)

Well Im clueless for that matter.

If you consider the rate of petitions filed, Youll see that if officers are going to read through all of these 200+ page petitions there going to be a huge backlogg. That is atleast my opinion.

So it is common sense to arrange things so that important points are visible at a glance.

Any way well wait for experts to comment on this first.