Shadowing Practice: Can Pilots Get a U.S. Green Card Without a Job Offer? - Learn English Speaking with Video

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Hello to the aviation community.

The rumors you've heard in the cockpit are true.

There is a U .S immigration program

that has helped pilots relocate to the U .S

and get a green card for themselves and their qualifying dependents without employer sponsorship.

That is EB2 National Interest Waiver or EB2 NIW.

So if you're a pilot thinking to relocate to the U .S and you're not sure where to start, continue watching this video.

My name is Julia Kwasiak and I work as a case officer here at Harvey Law Group.

I will keep things FAQ style today

and answer some of your questions about the EB2 NIW program

and if you're completely new to US immigration don't worry we'll start with the basics.

The EB2 NIW is an employment -based immigrant visa to the

U .S where you don't need the typical job offer or labor certification requirement.

Normally, employment -based immigrant petitions require a U .S.

employer sponsor.

Here, however, with the national interest waiver,

what we're essentially asking USCIS to do is to waive the typical job offer and normally the labor certification requirement.

Another reason why the EB2 NIW program is popular is that you can apply from abroad.

So what that means is you can continue working for your airliner

or operator and you don't need to make any big decisions on relocation until approval.

You might be wondering why did an immigration law firm take such a particular interest to pilot specifically?

So a bit of history here.

During COVID, our managing partner and founder

Jean -Francois Harvey was in Hong Kong

and there was many people from Cathay Pacific around him

and what happened was because of the aviation industry at the time employees were getting laid off

so many pilots came up to our law firm

and they said hey can you help us find a plan

b is there a second option do you mind comparing different programs

and letting us know whether there's something that might work for us

and that's exactly what we did our team compared immigration programs from around the world

and we finally came across the usa eb2 niw program we took a look at the requirements

and we thought okay this might work for our pilots

so we submitted one got approved submitted a couple more got more approvals

and then we started branching out to other aviation professionals

and other types of pilots such as helicopter pilots corporate pilots those

that have military background as well as aircraft maintenance engineers

so now we've submitted over 750 petitions

and helped hundreds of applicants get green cards for themselves

and their family members so first

and foremost i did do a general eb2 niw program

that does break down the program requirements i'll make sure to include the link in the description box below

but essentially to qualify for the eb2 niw program you need to satisfy two parts

so first the eb2 portion do you qualify for an underlying ab2 category

so there are two ways to satisfy this either through advanced degree professional route

or the exceptional ability route unless you have an aviation related masters

or a bachelor's followed by five years of experience we usually go for the exceptional ability option for our pilots

so how do we meet exceptional ability uscis has posted six

regulatory criteria the goal is we're trying to meet at least three an academic record relating to your area of exceptional ability,

at least 10 years of full -time experience in your occupation, a license or certification to practice your profession,

so this might be an ATPL for instance, evidence of a high salary,

membership in professional associations, so some common ones we see as ALPA or VAI for helicopter pilots,

and recognition for your achievements and significant contributions to your field.

Exactly which criteria to argue depends on you.

It depends on the strength of your documents things like your flight hours

and your unique experiences at harvey law group we have developed a very comprehensive

and chunky document list based off of our many years of experience with aviation submissions

but the idea isn't for every applicant to produce every single document

that we request on the list it's to give us a complete picture of your qualifications

and helps us identify exactly which criteria we should argue

So once we've established exceptional ability, let's move on to the National Interest Waiver, the NIW portion of things.

One thing to note is the National Interest Waiver is exactly why we can waive the typical job offer

and labor certification requirement that we usually see in employment -based immigrant petitions.

We do this by satisfying three legal prongs.

prong one your proposed endeavor must have substantial merit and national importance

in lay terms what are you planning to do in the united states

and why does it matter beyond simply filling a particular job vacancy prong two is

that you must be well positioned to advance

that proposed endeavor essentially why are you the right pilot to carry out this work what in your background training

and experience supports that and the last of the three prongs is

that on balance it must be beneficial to the United States to waive the job offer and labor certification requirements.

But the simple answer is no, at least not by itself.

The fact that there is a pilot shortage and the fact

that there are vacancies that U .S operators are struggling to fill in itself is not going to automatically establish national interest.

The USCIS need something more.

They need more than a general labor shortage.

They need more than staffing needs of an individual employer.

We need to look at your particular proposed endeavor and see does it have broader implications.

For example, if you are a helicopter pilot with HEMS background,

we may examine whether your proposed work could contribute to medevac or access to critical care in underserved communities.

How can we help you?

We have a dedicated team whose focus is on reviewing pilot

cases as well as keeping up with developments in the US aviation industry.

Now keeping in mind that USCIS officers aren't necessarily aviation experts.

They review applications from a broad range of professions, so part of our job is to translate aviation language to immigration language.

We also tailor the supporting evidence based off of your unique backgrounds.

Are you an aerial firefighting pilot?

Do you have experience in logging operations?

Are you a fixed -wing aircraft pilot?

Is it a narrow -body jet?

Is it a wide -body jet?

These are all the questions that we consider when developing the legal arguments

and deciding what evidence to put forward in the petition package.

At Harvey Law Group, we offer a complementary preliminary assessment where we take a first look

and we can help assess whether this might be the right program for you please check out our website

we frequently publish newsletters on the aviation industry

if you are an airline pilot a helicopter pilot a corporate pilot maybe one with military background

or an AME please feel free to contact us so

that we can discuss whether the EB -2 NIW program might be a good option for you.

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This speaking lesson is built on the video “Can Pilots Get a U.S. Green Card Without a Job Offer?”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: pilot, program, niw, aviation, requirement. This video has 99 sentences and 1221 words to shadow. The speech runs for 7:27. The speaker talks at a natural 164 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. Only 79% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is demanding.

Key vocabulary in this video

15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
aviation noun	/ˌeɪ̯.viːˈeɪ̯.ʃən/	The art or science of making and flying aircraft.
requirement noun	/ɹɪˈkwaɪɹmənt/	A necessity or prerequisite; something required or obligatory. Its adpositions are generally of in relation to who or what has given it, on in relation to whom…
immigration noun	/ˌɪmɪˈɡɹeɪʃən/	The act of immigrating; the passing or coming into a country of which one is not native born for the purpose of permanent residence.
exceptional adjective	/ɪkˈsɛpʃənəl/	Forming an exception; not ordinary; uncommon; rare.
certification noun	/ˌsɜː.tɪ.fɪˈkeɪ.ʃən/	The act of certifying.
petition noun	/pəˈtɪʃ.ən/	A formal written request made by an individual or a group of people to a sovereign or political authority, often containing many signatures, soliciting some…
helicopter noun	/ˈheliːˌkɔptə(ɹ)/	An aircraft that is borne along by one or more sets of long rotating blades which allow it to hover, move in any direction including reverse, or land; and…
propose verb	/pɹəˈpəʊz/	To suggest a plan, course of action, etc.
waiver noun	/ˈweɪ.vɚ/	The act of waiving, or not insisting on, some right, claim, or privilege.
essentially adverb	/ɪˈsɛnʃəli/	In essence: by nature.
submit verb	/səbˈmɪt/	To yield or give way to another.
employer noun	/ɪmˈplɔɪə/	A person, firm or other entity which pays for or hires the services of another person.
qualify verb	/ˈkwɑ.lɪ.faɪ/	To describe or characterize something by listing its qualities.
immigrant noun	/ˈɪmɪɡɹənt/	A non-native person who comes to a country from another country to permanently settle there.
satisfy verb	/ˈsætɪsfaɪ/	To be enough (for)

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
break down verb		To stop functioning.
carry out verb	/ˈkæ.ɹi aʊt/	To hold while moving it out.
check out verb		To record the departure or withdrawal of someone or something (such as guests, employees, books, etc.).
come across verb		To change sides; to cross over to work for the opposition.
come up to verb		To approach.
keep up with verb		To manage to remain beside or just behind someone or something that is moving away from one.
lay off verb		(of an employer) To dismiss (workers) from employment, e.g. at a time of low business volume or through no fault of the worker, often with a severance package.

Sentences worth repeating

Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:

The rumors you've heard in the cockpit are true.
How can we help you?
Are you an aerial firefighting pilot?
Do you have experience in logging operations?
Are you a fixed -wing aircraft pilot?

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 15 contractions and reduced forms, such as don't, you're, we're. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

The “sh” and “zh” sounds: aviation /ˌeɪ̯.viːˈeɪ̯.ʃən/, immigration /ˌɪmɪˈɡɹeɪʃən/, exceptional /ɪkˈsɛpʃənəl/, certification /ˌsɜː.tɪ.fɪˈkeɪ.ʃən/, petition /pəˈtɪʃ.ən/
Long words — get the stress right: aviation /ˌeɪ̯.viːˈeɪ̯.ʃən/, immigration /ˌɪmɪˈɡɹeɪʃən/, exceptional /ɪkˈsɛpʃənəl/, certification /ˌsɜː.tɪ.fɪˈkeɪ.ʃən/, helicopter /ˈheliːˌkɔptə(ɹ)/

How to practise with this video

Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like aviation, requirement, immigration.

What is the Shadowing Technique?

Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.

Shadowing technique: read the full step-by-step guide →

Shadowing Practice: Can Pilots Get a U.S. Green Card Without a Job Offer? - Learn English Speaking with Video

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