Does the CIS still approve national interest waiver cases after New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT)?
Yes. As in the days before NYSDOT, however, you still have to demonstrate that you are accomplished enough in your field. The threshold for being “approvable” is (in our experience, anyway) about the same as it has always been, although the results are somewhat less predictable, and some Service Centers have effectively begun to require evidence that simply is not required in the statute or regulations (or by the AAO decisions regarding national interest waiver appeals). Essentially, the effect of NYSDOT is that once you reach the level necessary where you case should be approved, your case may still be one of the certain percentage of the cases that is arbitrarily denied and requires an appeal to AAO to be approved. We have written articles explaining how NYSDOT is interpreted and misinterpreted and strategies for achieving approval of national interest waivers after NYSDOT.
