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Thousands of NIW applicants plan to work independently as consultants, freelancers, or self-employed practitioners. This is a legitimate and well-recognized path under the Dhanasar framework, which was specifically designed to accommodate entrepreneurs and self-employed professionals. But the endeavor statement for a consulting-based model must be written with particular care to satisfy all three prongs. This article shows you how to do it.
The Old Problem With Self-Employment and NIW
Before Matter of Dhanasar replaced the NYSDOT framework in 2016, self-employed and entrepreneurially-minded professionals faced a particularly difficult hurdle in the NIW process. The old third prong required showing that the national interest would be “adversely affected” if labor certification were required, and that the applicant would serve the national interest to “a substantially greater degree” than an available U.S. worker. For self-employed individuals, this was nearly impossible to demonstrate — because there was no U.S. employer who could be compared against, and no labor market test that made sense for someone who worked for themselves.
The Dhanasar decision explicitly acknowledged and corrected this problem. The AAO noted that the old framework was “particularly ill-suited for USCIS to evaluate petitions from self-employed individuals, such as entrepreneurs” and that it had “proven difficult for many qualified individuals to establish.” The new Prong 3 framework does not require harm to the national interest or comparison against U.S. workers. Instead, it asks a simpler and more equitable question: on balance, does waiving the job offer requirement benefit the United States?
For consulting-based petitioners, this is a significant improvement. But it does not eliminate the need to define the proposed endeavor carefully. The consulting model still requires a Prong 1 argument, and that argument must go beyond the general value of having skilled consultants in the market.
How to Define a Consulting Endeavor for Prong 1
The core challenge with a consulting-based endeavor is distinguishing it from general professional services. USCIS has stated that “proposing to work in an occupation with a national shortage or serve in a consulting capacity for others seeking to work in an occupation with a national shortage alone, is also insufficient” to demonstrate national importance. Simply saying “I will offer my expertise to U.S. companies” does not clear Prong 1.
What does work is describing the specific problem your consulting practice addresses, the sectors you will serve, the methodologies or frameworks you will deploy, and the measurable improvements your work will produce at scale. A cybersecurity consultant does not just “help companies with security.” A well-framed proposed endeavor for that consultant describes their intent to assess and remediate software security gaps in critical infrastructure sectors such as healthcare and financial services, incorporating AI-driven testing methodologies that reduce vulnerability windows and protect personally identifiable information held by government-adjacent organizations.
Notice the specificity. Sectors named. Methodologies described. Impact articulated. Beneficiaries identified. And all of it pointed forward, toward what will be accomplished, not backward toward what has already been done. A consulting-based endeavor that clears Prong 1 reads less like a business plan and more like a research and implementation agenda with national implications.
Sector Focus as a National Importance Strategy
One of the strongest strategies for consulting-model petitioners is to anchor their proposed endeavor in sectors that the federal government has publicly identified as nationally important. This is not about being strategic for its own sake — it is about being honest and specific about where your work fits within documented national priorities.
The federal government produces extensive documentation identifying where it believes skilled professionals are most urgently needed. CISA identifies critical infrastructure sectors. The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy publishes science and technology priorities. The Department of Labor publishes occupational shortage data. The NSF and NIH identify research priority areas. Any of these can anchor your consulting-based endeavor in documented national need.
For example, if you plan to consult for healthcare organizations on data integrity, you can point to HHS initiatives on health IT modernization and the documented risks of healthcare data breaches. If you plan to consult for government contractors on cybersecurity compliance, you can cite White House executive orders on secure software development. The connection between your consulting practice and federal priorities transforms a generic business plan into a nationally important endeavor.
The Multi-Client, Multi-Sector Advantage
One of the genuine strengths of a consulting-based proposed endeavor is the breadth of impact it can credibly claim. An employee serves one employer. A consultant serves many clients across different industries, geographies, and organizational types. That breadth is inherently more consistent with “national” importance than single-employer work.
Your endeavor statement can and should reflect this breadth. Describe the range of sectors you intend to serve. Explain how your work will be applied across different organizational contexts, producing improvements that extend beyond any single client relationship. If your methodology, framework, or approach has the potential to become a standard or best practice adopted by multiple organizations, describe that potential explicitly.
This also helps address the Policy Manual’s specific warning about consulting work: that benefits to a specific employer are not sufficient to establish national importance. A consulting-based endeavor that explicitly plans to serve multiple organizations across multiple sectors addresses this concern directly.
Prong 3 and the Self-Employment Model
For consulting-model petitioners, Prong 3 deserves special attention. Dhanasar identifies one key Prong 3 factor as: “whether, in light of the nature of the foreign national’s qualifications or proposed endeavor, it would be impractical either for the foreign national to secure a job offer or for the petitioner to obtain a labor certification.” For self-employed individuals, this factor is almost always satisfied. There is no employer who can file a labor certification for someone who plans to work for themselves. The process simply does not fit the situation.
Include this argument explicitly in your Prong 3 section. Explain that your proposed endeavor is consulting-based, that you intend to serve multiple U.S. clients independently, and that requiring you to obtain a job offer from a U.S. employer would be structurally incompatible with the nature of your proposed work. This is not a workaround — it is a recognized and legitimate argument under the Dhanasar framework, applied exactly as the AAO intended.
Combine this with evidence that the United States benefits from your contributions even assuming other qualified workers exist, and you will have a complete, well-structured Prong 3 argument tailored to your consulting model.
References and Further Reading
- Matter of Dhanasar, 26 I&N Dec. 884 (AAO 2016) — https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/err/B5%20-%20Members%20of%20the%20Professions%20Holding%20Advanced%20Degrees%20or%20Aliens%20of%20Exceptional%20Ability/Decisions_Issued_in_2016/DEC012016_01B5203.pdf
- USCIS Policy Manual, Volume 6, Part F, Chapter 5 — https://www.uscis.gov/policy-manual/volume-6-part-f-chapter-5
- CISA — Critical Infrastructure Sectors — https://www.cisa.gov/topics/critical-infrastructure-security-and-resilience/critical-infrastructure-sectors
- White House — Strengthening and Promoting Innovation in the Nation’s Cybersecurity (EO 14144) — https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/strengthening-and-promoting-innovation-in-the-nations-cybersecurity/
SBA — Self-Employment and Small Business Resources — https://www.sba.gov/business-guide/launch-your-business/register-your-business
