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One of the most underused evidence types in NIW petitions is demonstrated interest from third parties — invitations to collaborate, letters of intent from potential clients, or correspondence from organizations that want to work with you. The Policy Manual explicitly includes this type of evidence. This article explains how to obtain it, evaluate its quality, and present it effectively in your petition.
What the Policy Manual Says About Third-Party Interest
The USCIS Policy Manual, in its description of Prong 2 evidence, explicitly includes “correspondence from prospective or potential customers, users, investors, or other relevant entities.” It also specifically mentions “letters from government agencies or quasi-governmental entities in the United States demonstrating that the person is well positioned to advance the proposed endeavor.” These are not afterthoughts — they are listed alongside more traditional evidence types like degrees, patents, and publications.
The reason this type of evidence matters is that it demonstrates external recognition of your positioning from parties who have no immigration-related interest in supporting your petition. When a research institution invites you to join a study because they believe your expertise is relevant, that invitation is an independent assessment of your value by a third party who knows your field. When a U.S.-based company contacts you to express interest in your consulting services, that interest reflects a market judgment about your capabilities. These are exactly the kinds of signals that Prong 2 is designed to capture.
The underlying logic is consistent with the Dhanasar standard: USCIS wants to see “the interest of potential customers, users, investors, or other relevant entities or individuals” as one of the factors indicating that you are well positioned. Interest and support from the people and organizations who would benefit from your work is powerful evidence that your positioning is real, not just claimed.
What Counts as a Qualifying Expression of Interest
Not all expressions of interest carry equal weight. The most valuable letters and correspondence share several characteristics. They come from a party with genuine expertise or standing in your field. They were written for an authentic purpose, not solicited solely for immigration purposes. They describe why the author’s organization is interested in your work, with specific reference to your expertise and its relevance. And they are specific about what the collaboration or engagement would involve.
A research collaboration invitation from a professor at a U.S. university who has read your work and wants to co-author a paper carries significant weight. An invitation from a professional organization to participate in an industry working group carries significant weight. An email from a potential client who has been referred to you and wants to discuss a consulting engagement carries significant weight. All of these reflect authentic third-party interest grounded in knowledge of your work.
By contrast, letters from friends, family members, or individuals who have no professional connection to your field carry very little weight regardless of how strongly worded they are. A letter from a business contact whose company is unrelated to your proposed endeavor similarly adds little. USCIS adjudicators are experienced at identifying letters that are solicited solely for immigration purposes versus those that reflect genuine professional interest. Authenticity matters enormously.
How to Solicit Expressions of Interest Appropriately
There is nothing improper about reaching out to professional contacts to ask whether they would be interested in collaborating with you on your proposed endeavor. This is how professional relationships are built, and the resulting correspondence reflects real interest if you approach the right people with a genuine proposal.
Begin by identifying professionals whose work is closely related to your proposed endeavor — researchers studying similar questions, practitioners implementing similar methodologies, or organizations working in the sectors your endeavor targets. Reach out with a brief description of your proposed work and a specific, honest ask: would they be interested in collaborating on a study, contributing to a joint project, or exploring a consulting relationship?
If the answer is yes, ask them to put their expression of interest in writing. Explain briefly that you are documenting professional connections for your career development and immigration file. Most professionals in academic or industry settings are comfortable providing such letters when the interest is genuine. If the answer is no, that is also valuable information — it tells you to look elsewhere for collaborative partners.
Presenting Collaboration Evidence in Your Petition
When you include collaboration invitations or letters of interest as exhibits, provide context in your petition letter that explains who the author is, why their interest is professionally significant, and how the proposed collaboration connects to your proposed endeavor. An adjudicator who does not know your field cannot assess the significance of an invitation from an organization they have never heard of. Your job is to explain.
For each collaboration letter or invitation, include a sentence or two in your petition letter such as: “Exhibit X is an invitation to co-author a research paper on AI-assisted software testing, extended by [Name], Director of Research at [Organization], a U.S.-based technology research institute. This invitation reflects [Organization’s] assessment that the petitioner’s proposed work on integrated quality assurance frameworks is relevant to the institute’s ongoing research into software reliability in critical infrastructure sectors.” This context makes the significance of the evidence clear.
If the collaboration correspondence describes your specific expertise or the specific aspects of your proposed work that the other party finds valuable, highlight those passages in your petition letter. The more specifically the correspondence connects to your proposed endeavor, the stronger the Prong 2 argument it supports.
Government and Quasi-Governmental Interest Letters
The Policy Manual specifically calls out letters from government agencies as particularly valuable Prong 2 evidence. This category includes federal agencies like CISA, NSF, NIH, DOE, and DOD, as well as quasi-governmental entities like federally funded research and development centers, national laboratories, and public-private partnerships established under federal authority.
Letters from these entities carry outsized weight for a specific reason: government agencies have no immigration motivation for writing supportive letters. When a federal agency or national laboratory says that your proposed work aligns with national research priorities and that your expertise is relevant to their mission, that statement reflects a genuine institutional assessment by an authoritative body. It simultaneously supports Prong 1 (national importance) and Prong 2 (well positioned).
Obtaining such letters requires existing relationships with government researchers or agency personnel, which not all petitioners have. If you do have such relationships — through past funded research, consulting work, or professional collaboration — pursuing a letter from a government contact is worth the effort. If you do not, focus on the other categories of collaboration evidence described in this article, and consider building government connections as part of your pre-filing professional development.
References and Further Reading
- USCIS Policy Manual, Volume 6, Part F, Chapter 5 — Prong 2 Evidence — https://www.uscis.gov/policy-manual/volume-6-part-f-chapter-5
- 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
- NSF — Collaboration and Funding Opportunities — https://www.nsf.gov/funding/
- CISA — Industry Collaboration Programs — https://www.cisa.gov/collaboration
NIH — Research Partnerships and Funding — https://www.nih.gov/research-training/research-conducted-nih/inside-nih-intramural-research
