New USCIS Updates for STEM students in O-1 & EB-2 NIW categories

The U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Service (USCIS) recently amended its Policy Manual to provide expanded evidentiary guidelines for F-1 STEM applicants seeking O-1A extraordinary ability classification. This update marks the second time this year that USCIS has modified preexisting guidance to cater specifically to F-1 students in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. The EB-2 National Interest Waiver (NIW) documentary requirements were revised by USCIS in January 2022.

Such modifications to the O-1 and EB-2 NIW sub-regulatory framework reflect an emphasis by the Biden Administration on retaining the best and brightest STEM graduates beyond solely the H-1B category. This Fiscal Year (FY 2023), USCIS received more than 480,000 H-1B registrations of which only 127,600 registrations were initially selected.

The new expanded O-1 guidance includes consideration of grants or stipends for STEM-related research activities as among the non-exhaustive list of evidentiary support for demonstration of rank among the small percentage at the top of the respective field — the legal standard for O-1 eligibility. This initiative by USCIS mirrors that recently promulgated for NIW petitions, and serves to make both categories more widely available to foreign nationals with STEM backgrounds working in furtherance of an area of U.S. national interest or pursuing entrepreneurial endeavors of U.S. prospective benefit.