What Is the Proposed Endeavor in an EB-2 NIW Case?

If you are considering the EB-2 National Interest Waiver (NIW), you have probably come across the term “proposed endeavor” many times. Under the National Interest Waiver framework, the proposed endeavor is the central object of analysis: U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) looks at what you plan to do, not simply at how important your field may be or how impressive your profile is. 

Understanding this distinction is often the difference between a generic petition  and one that reads as concrete and credible. 

What Does “Proposed Endeavor” Mean?

The “proposed endeavor” is not a description of our profile, a summary of your professional accomplishments, an explanation of your job position, or a list of your academic degrees. It is the specific work you plan to carry out in the United States, along with the impact that work would have in a broader context, and can be described as a specific initiative, plan, or project that goes beyond traditionally held work.

This can sound a little abstract. In practice, the proposed endeavor in an EB-2 NIW case is often presented in the form of a “proposed endeavor statement,” a document in which the petitioner describes, in specific and rigorous terms, the specific work they plan to pursue and the beneficial effects this work would have for the country. This statement is the centerpiece of a case and must be at once concise enough for the officer to understand what its benefits are for the United States, but descriptive enough that the officer understands how the endeavor undertaken is a higher-level activity with enough potential prospective impact that it could change the field.

The USCIS officer will look at your proposed endeavor statement carefully when reviewing your case, which is why it deserves close attention early in the process. It is the document around which the rest of the evidence is organized, since the majority of an EB-2 NIW petition is built to support this piece.

Your proposed endeavor is not the same as your profession

The most common mix-up is treating your profession or occupation as your endeavor. “What you are” and “what you propose to do” are two different questions. Your profession is the category you work in, such as engineering, medicine, or software development or your specific occupation, such as a civil engineer, physician or software developer. Your proposed endeavor is the specific work you will pursue that while it falls in line with your profession and is backed by your career thus far, represents an initiative or project with broader implications for not only your field, but also for the United States as a whole.  

USCIS draws this line on purpose. In its Policy Manual guidance on national interest waivers, USCIS instructs officers to focus on what the person actually proposes to do, rather than theapplicant’s job title or occupational classification alone. The proposed endeavor should describe specific projects, goals, and areas of work instead of simply listing the duties associated with the occupation. In other words, the office wants to know what you will specifically do, not just what you are called, what your occupation will be, or what your profile is.  

What Does a Proposed Endeavor Look Like?

A clear proposed endeavor answers a few plain questions: What will you do? How will you do it? Who or what will it benefit? What problem are you addressing? What makes this different than existing approaches in the United States or in your field? And why does your work matter beyond a single employer or client? 

You do not need a perfect formula, and there is no universal sentence structure USCIS expects to see for a proposed endeavor. Still, one simple pattern can help you organize your thoughts: 

Action + area of work + problem + intended impact. 

For example, if you are an electronics engineer with experience in power systems for electric vehicles, your proposed endeavor might sound something like this: “to design adaptable power electronics systems for electric-vehicle fast-charging infrastructure in the United States that will reduce energy losses, improve charging reliability, and support the efficient adoption of electric transportation nationwide.”  

Broken down, the sentence has four parts:   

The action: designing adaptable power electronics systems for electric-vehicle fast-charging infrastructure 

Area of work: electronic systems 

Problem: charging reliability (or the lack of it), the wide variety of landscapes and communities in the United States making a rigid approach not efficient, and the potential for improved processes in the United States by making adaptable systems that can adjust to where they are installed 

Intended impact: the adoption of electric transportation nationwide in a manner that is efficient for different cities, towns, and rural areas. 
 
Notice how that single sentence answers every question we started this section with: 
 
What will you do? Improve charging reliability and reduce energy losses in the country’s EV charging network while allowing electric charging to be installed in smaller towns and rural areas by being adaptable for their specific needs 
 
How will you do it? By designing adaptable power electronics systems for electric-vehicle fast-charging infrastructure.  
 
Who or what benefits? Drivers, the charging network, communities, automobile manufacturers, and the wider shift to electric transportation.  
 
What problem are you addressing? Energy losses, lack of modern energy infrastructure in certain areas, and unreliable charging.  
 
Why does the work matter beyond a single employer or client? Because its intended impact reaches the nationwide adoption of electric transportation as well as benefitting communities and the U.S. automobile industry as a whole, not just one company’s product line.  

Proposed Endeavor Examples 

The pattern we just walked through works across almost any field. Whether you are in technology, medicine, finance, science, business, or any other professional field, the move is the same: you start from what you are(a profession) and you arrive at what you propose to do(a specific undertaking with a clear purpose). That shift in framing is what makes it easier to understand for most people considering the EB-2 NIW pathway. 

The table below shows a few examples of that shift from a profession to a concrete endeavor.  

Occupation (what you are)	Proposed endeavor (what you propose to do)
Software engineer	Develop novel cybersecurity systems that reduce vulnerabilities in critical infrastructure, such as energy grids or transportation networks
Physician	Design and Expand a telemedicine model that addresses specialist shortages for rural patient populations
Financial analyst	Build optimal risk-management systems that help small U.S. financial institutions address fraud, liquidity, or compliance risks
Research scientist	research and develop modern battery materials that improve energy-storage capacity for renewable-energy use
Entrepreneur	Build and scale a specific product or service that addresses a defined U.S. need on a regional or national scale

None of these is a template to copy. Think of them instead as a glimpse of how a broad job title turns into something concrete and personal.

How Specific Does a Proposed Endeavor Need to Be? 

Earlier we drew one line: your proposed endeavor is not your profession. Simply naming your field is the first and most common way an endeavor lands too broad, but it is not the only one. Getting the specificity right means avoiding two opposite mistakes: describing your work too broadly, and describing it too narrowly. 

A proposed endeavor is usually too broad when it names a category instead of an undertaking. Here is a simple test: if your description could apply to thousands of other people in your field, it is not specific enough yet. A few patterns tend to fall short: 

• Profession-only descriptions, such as “I will work as an engineer.” 
• Industry-only descriptions, such as “I will contribute to the technology sector.” 
• Vague economic claims, such as “I will help the U.S. economy.” 
• Generic job duties copied straight from a job description. 
• Empty phrases like “advance innovation” that could describe almost anyone and do not describe how exactly you are advancing the field or industry. 

Broad economic or job-creation claims do not, by themselves, establish national importance. Saying that your field matters is not the same as showing what your specific work will do and why it impacts more than just one employer. Similarly, stating that your field has a shortage of available workers is not a strong argument absent a compelling argument, as that is why the labor certification process exists. 

The easiest way to feel the difference is to see the same idea written both ways. In each pair below, the first version names a category, and the second describes work you could actually picture. These are only examples, not templates to copy, and none of them guarantees an outcome. Whether an endeavor meets the EB-2 NIW standard depends on the individual case and the evidence behind it. 

Technology. Too broad: “I plan to work in artificial intelligence.” More specific: “I will develop AI-based predictive maintenance systems that will help U.S. manufacturers identify equipment failures earlier, reduce downtime, and improve efficiency.” 

Healthcare. Too broad: “I intend to continue working as a physician.” More specific: “I will develop and expand clinical programs that improve early cardiovascular-disease detection among underserved patient populations across the United States.” 

Engineering. Too broad: “I will work as a civil engineer.” More specific: “I will develop resilient infrastructure-design methods that help transportation systems withstand severe weather and climate-related disruption.” 

Business and entrepreneurship. Too broad: “I want to start a consulting business.” More specific: “I will build a supply-chain advisory platform that will help U.S. manufacturers find vulnerabilities, diversify suppliers, and reduce dependence on fragile overseas supply networks, resulting in increased supply-chain resilience for the United States.” 

There is a second mistake, in the opposite direction. A proposed endeavor can also be too narrow. An endeavor tied to a single task, a single project, or a single employer can start to look less like a broader undertaking and more like one assignment. “I will complete one assigned software project for one company” describes a job, not an endeavor.  

The goal is to show a coherent professional direction that is specific about the work and its intended impact, without locking you into one job or one project. A proposed endeavor can cover work you would pursue across more than one role or employer, as long as those activities consistently advance the same defined endeavor. 
 

How the Proposed Endeavor Connects to National Importance

Applicants often assume that working in a high-priority field is enough to make their endeavor nationally important. That assumption usually falls short. Working in an important field is a starting point, not a conclusion. What USCIS looks at is the prospective impact of your specific endeavor: what your work could realistically achieve, and how far its benefits could reach. The question is not only where you work, but what your endeavor could do for the country if it succeeds. Under Matter of Dhanasar, an endeavor can be nationally important even when you carry it out locally within a region or within a single field, as long as its impact has broader national implications. 

Therefore, the task is not to prove that your industry matters, but to show, in concrete terms, what impact your particular endeavor could have beyond your own work, regardless of your industry. Meeting the underlying EB-2 requirements is a separate step, and you can review those in this EB-2 NIW eligibility guide.   

How the Proposed Endeavor Connects to Being Well Positioned 

Once your endeavor is clear, USCIS looks at a second question: are you well positioned to actually carry it forward? A worthwhile endeavor still needs a credible person behind it, and this is where your own background comes in. 

There is no checklist to tick off here, and no piece of evidence universally required to satisfy this. Depending on your path, what you bring might include your education and expertise, past achievements, publications or patents, projects you have completed, contracts or funding, the progress of your business, professional recognition, and/or letters from people who know your work firsthand. Usually, it also includes a realistic plan for what comes next.  

Many applicants assume that the strength of their profile, such as an impressive academic background, a high citation count, or the receipt of prestigious awards alone will suffice. Having a strong professional profile is beneficial, but it is not, by itself, what USCIS is looking for in an EB-2 NIW petition. 

Some applicants lean on a long research record, others on real-world results or a clear roadmap for the road ahead. Which particular approach or mix of evidence is the most appropriate onealways depends on the specific facts of every individual case. Please note that the USCIS has a separate list of considerations for entrepreneurial endeavors that is comprehensive, so entrepreneurs make sure to review it closely. 

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a proposed endeavor for EB-2 NIW?

A proposed endeavor is the specific work or undertaking you intend to pursue in the United States, and the impact that work is expected to have. USCIS evaluates that endeavor as the center of the National Interest Waiver analysis. It is more specific than describing your profile, occupation, or field.

Is my proposed endeavor the same as my job?

No, it is not. A job describes a position with an employer. A proposed endeavor describes the specific work with broader implications you intend to advance and the difference that work is expected to make, which may extend beyond any single position. Additionally, the endeavor is not tied to an employer, and one should remain in pursuit of the endeavor even if the employer is changed. It is for this reason that EB-2 NIW is self-petitioned.

Can my proposed endeavor involve more than one employer?

Potentially. The EB-2 NIW waives the job offer and labor certification requirements, so a petition is not necessarily tied to one permanent job offer. What matters is whether your planned activities consistently advance the same defined endeavor and that you remain working in your same field.

How long should a proposed endeavor statement be?

There is no specific word count USCIS requires or expects. The focus should be on clarity, specificity, consistency, and supporting evidence rather than a set length. A short, precise description often works better than a long, vague one, as there are ample opportunities to describe the specific mechanisms behind the endeavor and the plan to advance it in other documents.

Can I use a proposed endeavor sample?

Examples can help you understand structure and level of detail. Copying a sample is risky, though, because a proposed endeavor should match your actual background, plans, and evidence. Use samples to learn the structure of a proposed endeavor, then write your own.

Can my proposed endeavor change after my NIW is approved?

Material changes to your work can raise immigration questions, so if your professional plans shift substantially, it is worth getting individualized legal advice about how that could affect your case.

See Where Your Proposed Endeavor Stands

Defining your proposed endeavor is often the most important step in preparing an EB-2 NIW petition. If you are working through how to describe yours, Colombo & Hurd can help. Our firm offers a free EB-2 NIW profile evaluation to talk through your background and your goals.