VISA2US Blog

The National Interest Waiver (NIW) is a top-tier under the Employment-Based Second Preference (EB-2) visa category. It permits the holder to live and work in the United States without a job sponsor. Qualifying for this coveted document is challenging as the applicant must prove that they are highly skilled or have an exceptional ability that makes them of particular national interest. As with all immigration regulations, the requirements and benefits of the NIW adapt to the needs of society, and recent changes may benefit spouses under an H-4 visa should they seek work. We’ll explain those and the other must-know details here.

Millions of people from all over the world apply to enter the United States each year. These individuals encompass a range of unskilled, highly skilled, and asylum-seeking categories. Every category falls under a different visa, but all visas are screened by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services branch of the federal government. Because of the high number of applications and the need for thorough screening of each one, it’s not surprising that there are frequent backlogs. But the Secure and Protect Act of 2023 is posed to make changes that could reduce the time you’ll wait for your H-1B visa.

The past few years have seen an increase in immigration changes through the COVID-19 pandemic and switching Trump and Biden Administrations. The latest round of federal immigration policies in 2023 focuses on things like immigration activity along the border of US and Mexico, noncitizens in mixed immigration status families, and children with immigrant parents. We cover the evolving immigration policies here and how they’ll affect your visa in 2023.