In my previous blog post I went over the percentage of approvals and denials in Fiscal Year 2023. Using the same data source from USCIS, it is possible to rank the countries by number of accepted and approved petitions. In this article we will look into the third quarter of Fiscal Year 2023 to understand what countries obtain the largest number of approved I-140 petitions for EB-2 National Interest Waiver.
The source of the data
The USCIS website offers a variety of statistics for multiple types of processes. Among them, the agency publishes a quaterly report on approvals, denials, and pending cases. In addition to the overall numbers, the agency offers approvals by country of birth of the petitioner. Below is a screenshot from the report for Q3 or Fiscal Year 2023:
Ranking countries by number of EB2 NIW approvals in a quarter
Taking the data from the USCIS website, I ranked the countries by number of approvals based on the country of birth of the applicant. The table below shows the top 10 countries with more approvals:
Ranking | Country | Number of Approvals |
1 | China | 1,139 |
2 | Brazil | 927 |
3 | Iran | 856 |
4 | India | 496 |
5 | Nigeria | 461 |
6 | Bangladesh | 398 |
7 | South Korea | 381 |
8 | Colombia | 306 |
9 | Pakistan | 222 |
10 | Venezuela | 183 |
As expected, China and India, the countries with more backlogs, are in this top 10. I was surprised to see India that high on the list. Even if India is a very large country by population with large inmigration inflows to the United States, I would expect smaller numbers of applicants for EB2 NIW given the long wait times for applicants born in this country. It is worth remembering Indians must wait over a decade after applying for EB-2 NIW to be able to adjust status or obtain an immigrant visa at a Consulate.
What does this data mean for you?
This is just an informational blog post without direct consequences or meaning for your own case. The success of your I-140 petition does not depend on your country of birth, as this first part of the NIW process is completely independent of where you come from. The overall time to complete the process (after I-140 approval) does depend on where you were born.
So, do not be discourage if your country is not showing up in this top 10. Similarly, if you are from one of those countries in the list shown above, don’t think you have higher chances of approval!
There are certain factors that will increase your chances of obtaining an I-140 approval, such as how well your case is crafted. For that, you can always rely on the information of this website, including the online course for EB2 NIW preparation as a DIY petitioner.