U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has provided a fact sheet on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) petition trends in the EB-2 and O-1A categories in fiscal years 2018 to 2023. The fact sheet highlights data trends in these categories during fiscal years (FYs) 2022 and 2023 compared with fiscal years before a policy guidance change in January 2022. The trends include an increase in receipts of EB-2 petitions from FY 2022 to FY 2023 and increases in National Interest Waiver use and O-1A petition receipts, USCIS said.
In January 2022, USCIS updated its policy guidance to clarify how certain professionals in STEM fields can demonstrate eligibility for (a) the National Interest Waiver (NIW) in an employment-based immigrant status (EB-2), and (b) nonimmigrant status for individuals of extraordinary ability (O-1A).