During the week of December 29, 2025 to January 4, 2026, WeGreened received 38 approval notices from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). Of the 38 approvals, 30 were for NIW (National Interest Waiver), 4 were for EB1A (Alien of Extraordinary Ability), 2 were for EB1B (Outstanding Professors or Researchers), and 2 were for O1A (Individuals with Extraordinary Ability or Achievement). NIW again represented the majority of approvals, while EB1A remained steady among petitioners whose records supported sustained acclaim under a totality-of-the-evidence review.

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EB1A and NIW Credential Analysis

EB1A petitioners this week showed concentrated impact metrics. Publications ranged from 3 to 46 (Q1: 12.8, median: 22.5, Q3: 33.3), and citations ranged from 444 to 819 (Q1: 537.8, median: 582, Q3: 651). With a smaller EB1A sample in this batch, the data still reflect a familiar pattern: approvals tend to cluster around profiles that can be framed as sustained, field-recognized influence under final merits review.

NIW petitioners reflected a broader spectrum of credential profiles. Publications ranged from 3 to 88 (Q1: 6, median: 10, Q3: 17.8), and citations ranged from 20 to 2,788 (Q1: 133.5, median: 204, Q3: 360.3). Compared with EB1A, NIW shows a wider spread on both publications and citations, indicating that approvals can include both earlier-stage records and more established scholarly profiles, depending on how the petition frames national importance, forward momentum, and future U.S. benefit.

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Insights on Petitioner Backgrounds and Fields

EB1A approvals this week leaned heavily toward biomedical and health-related fields, with one approval in a computer/data-facing area. NIW approvals spanned a wider distribution across biomedical and health sciences, AI/software and data-driven fields, physical sciences, and multiple engineering areas. Most NIW petitioners were in research-intensive pathways such as PhD student, postdoctoral, or research roles, with a meaningful subset in industry, including software/data positions and other quantitatively oriented professional tracks.

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Highlighted NIW Case: NIW Approved for a PhD Student Without an Advanced Degree

This week’s highlighted NIW approval features a PhD student conducting research in health informatics, public health informatics, and mental health informatics. The petitioner focuses on applying natural language processing (NLP) to improve how health related information is analyzed, with the goal of supporting stronger public health and patient care outcomes.

The case was approved without an advanced degree by establishing EB-2 eligibility through the exceptional ability pathway. The record included 7 publications and 178 citations, reflecting strong early career momentum. After filing, the case was upgraded to premium processing and approved on January 2, 2026.

Strategically, our firm built the filing in a way that made the officer’s review clear and sequential. We first addressed the threshold issue of qualifying for EB-2 without an advanced degree by organizing objective evidence to meet multiple exceptional ability criteria. We then presented the NIW argument under the Dhanasar framework. We defined a focused, nationally relevant research direction, showed the petitioner was well-positioned through a track record aligned with the same technical area, and explained why a waiver would support broader collaboration and continued progress without being tied to a single job offer or the labor certification process. To strengthen third-party validation, our firm drafted two recommendation letters. One was from a dependent recommender with direct knowledge of the work, and the other was from an independent recommender who provided external and objective context.

This result highlights that even without an advanced degree, a well-structured petition can succeed when it cleanly establishes eligibility and presents a persuasive Dhanasar narrative, supported by evidence that translates technical impact into officer-friendly terms.

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Adjudication Trends and Policy Observations

EB1A continues to turn on sustained acclaim and final merits review, where meeting at least three criteria is necessary but not sufficient. This week’s EB1A approvals clustered at higher citation levels than the prior week, consistent with how officers weigh field-wide influence under the totality of the record. EB1A outcomes also included an industry-facing role, reinforcing that final merits depend less on where the work occurs and more on whether the evidence demonstrates sustained, field-recognized excellence.

NIW approvals again spanned a wide range of disciplines and career stages when the petition clearly defines a nationally important endeavor, shows the petitioner is well positioned, and explains how a waiver amplifies U.S. benefit through flexibility and scale. Compared with last week, this week’s NIW approvals were less driven by extreme high-citation outliers and instead clustered more in a mid-range band, while still reflecting strong advanced-degree representation. Across the batch, the consistent throughline remained the quality of the evidentiary record and the clarity of the Dhanasar framing rather than any single metric or procedural choice.