Evidence-Based Immigration Research
Every article is grounded in analysis of 6,362 real USCIS decisions — no speculation, just patterns and rates from actual outcomes.
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Real AAO approval rates for 26 profession categories, pulled from 6,362 decisions. Scientific research clears 19%; entrepreneurship and nursing sit at zero.
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Why independent letters carry weight, what AAO calls conclusory, who to ask, and how to brief recommenders so the letter does its job under Dhanasar.
Why citation evidence belongs under Dhanasar prong 2, the three mistakes AAO discounts, and how to present citations so they prove you are well positioned.
Physicians win 10.6% of NIW appeals (24 of 227); scientific researchers win 19.3% (93 of 481). What the data says about framing an MD/PhD petition and the denials that recur.
USCIS does not track postdocs as a category. The closest signal is Scientific Research, where 93 of 481 NIW appeals were approved (19.3%). When to file and the denial pattern that recurs.
How USCIS applies the Dhanasar three-prong test, which prong most petitions actually lose on, and what separates a coherent NIW argument from a weak one.
NIW and EB-1A both let you self-petition, but they test entirely different things — the Dhanasar three-prong test versus the Kazarian two-step, ten-criteria standard. Here is how to tell which fits.
Software engineers win 7.2% of NIW appeals at the AAO (77 of 1,069). What separates the wins, the denial language that recurs, and how to build a stronger Prong 1.
USCIS does not track 'AI researcher' as a category. These petitions are decided within Information Technology & Computing, which the AAO approves at 7.2% on appeal. Here is what that means for your case.
USCIS has no 'data scientist' category. These petitions are decided within Information Technology & Computing, which the AAO approves at 7.2% on appeal. Here is how to build a case that holds up.
RFE-specific statistics are not public. Here is what 6,362 AAO appeal decisions show about the petition weaknesses USCIS scrutinizes, and how to answer an RFE.
Real USCIS I-140 NIW quarterly data: 129,825 petitions received over 2024–2025, a 74,392-case pending backlog, and an approval rate that fell from 77% to 36%.
Three ways to go from reading about NIW patterns to acting on yours.
Live approval rates, denial patterns, and profession breakdowns from 6,362 decisions.
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