USCIS publishes a checklist of initial evidence for each form, broken down by the immigrant classification you are filing under — 11 of them for Form I-140 and 3 for Form I-485. All 206 items are here, in USCIS’s words, including its own “if applicable” qualifiers. Which classification is yours is not something this page decides, so none is hidden.
One distinction USCIS makes for national interest waivers
Under “proof you can pay the offered wage”, the I-140 checklist lists the classifications the requirement covers. One of them reads:
“E-21, Members of the Professions Holding an Advanced Degree or Aliens of Exceptional Ability (except for national interest waivers);”
An NIW petition is filed by the person themselves, so there is no employer whose ability to pay could be shown. That parenthesis is USCIS’s, quoted rather than interpreted. The section below opens on the classification USCIS titles “E-21 Professional Who Holds an Advanced Degree or Person Who…”.
Form I-140 — Immigrant Petition for Alien Workers
USCIS says · Please do not submit this checklist with your Form I-140. The checklist is an optional tool to use as you prepare your form, but does not replace statutory, regulatory, and form instruction requirements. We recommend that you review these requirements before completing and submitting your form. Do not send original documents unless specifically requested in the form instructions or applicable regulations. You may view the form instructions on our Form I-140 page .
Did you provide the following?
You marked 0 of 16. That is your count of your own papers, not a finding that this section is satisfied — only the officer handling your filing decides that.
Form I-485 — Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status
USCIS says · Please do not submit this checklist with your Form I-485. It is an optional tool to use as you prepare your form but does not replace statutory, regulatory, and form instruction requirements. We recommend that you review these requirements before completing and submitting your form. Do not send original documents unless specifically requested in the form instructions or applicable regulations. You may view the form instructions at uscis.gov/i-485 .
Our Canada and UK lists show derived dates — a police certificate that must be under two years old, a tuberculosis certificate “valid for 6 months from the date of your x-ray”. Neither USCIS checklist states a validity period for anything on it. Periods that circulate for these documents are not applied here: a date we could not point at a USCIS sentence for would be a date we invented. Both pages were read on 2026-09-04.