What Is a Proposed Endeavor in an EB-2 NIW?

Endeavor is narrower than your field

USCIS distinguishes between the field you work in and the endeavor you propose. 'Artificial intelligence research' is a field. 'Developing and deploying machine-learning models that detect equipment failures in municipal water systems' is an endeavor. The second one can be evaluated for merit and importance; the first cannot.

• Name the specific problem you are working on
• State what you will actually do about it in the United States
• Identify who benefits — an industry, a patient population, a region, a federal priority
• Describe the scale and how it reaches past one employer

Substantial merit

Merit can come from business, entrepreneurship, science, technology, culture, health, or education. USCIS does not require that the endeavor produce immediate economic benefit or quantifiable impact — but it must have value that goes beyond a purely personal or private interest.

National importance

National importance looks at the potential prospective impact of the endeavor, not the geographic area where you will work. Work confined to one city can still be nationally important if it is a model, addresses a national priority, or has broader implications. Conversely, working nationwide does not automatically make an endeavor nationally important.

• Ties to a documented federal, state, or industry priority
• Potential to affect a sector rather than a single employer
• Economic effects like job creation or supply-chain resilience
• Public health, safety, infrastructure, or national security relevance

Your endeavor has to be consistent across the packet

One of the most common problems is drift: the petition letter describes one endeavor, the recommendation letters describe another, and the CV suggests a third. Pick a single sentence for the endeavor, and make every exhibit, letter, and plan point back to it.

• Write the endeavor as one clear sentence and reuse it verbatim
• Ask recommenders to reference the same endeavor language
• Match your plan, offers, and contracts to it
• Make sure past accomplishments are presented as support for the future work

The forward-looking plan

The NIW is prospective — it is about what you intend to do, not only what you have done. Give USCIS a plausible plan: where the work happens, with whom, funded how, over what horizon.

• Business plan, research plan, or roadmap
• Letters of interest, contracts, or collaboration agreements
• Funding, grants, or investment documentation
• Any employment or consulting arrangements already in place

Where Clear Path fits

We do not write the endeavor statement or the petition letter — that is the legal argument and it belongs to you or your immigration attorney. Once you have it, we prepare Form I-140 and I-907, build the indexed exhibit packet so each document lines up with the argument, format the recommendation letters, and give you filing instructions.