Dr. William:

I may qualify for both EB1-Extraordinary Ability and National Interest Waiver categories. Is it true that the EB1-Extraordinary Ability category is much more difficult than National Interest Waiver category? Or I may apply for both categories at the same time?

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Answer:

For EB1-Extraordinary Ability and National Interest Waiver, each category has its standards and requirements. It all depends applicant's qualification. Generally, EB1-Extraordinary Ability has higher standard. 

But previously, there were reports that some applicants had received denials in NIW cases from the same USCIS Service Center, which approved their EB1-Extraordinary Ability petitions for these same applicants. The denials of the NIW petitions stated that the they failed to meet the "exceptional" standard for NIW. In other words, USCIS admitted that the persons satisfied the higher standard of extraordinary for the EB1-Extraordinary Ability, but could not satisfy the lower "exceptional" standard for the NIW Petition.