New U.S. immigration rules spur more visa approvals for STEM workers

This month Sanjay (not his real name) opened his mail to find a document giving him the right to live and work permanently in the United States. Getting a green card marks the highlight of a 16-year immigration odyssey for the Indian-born software engineer, who came to the United States on a college scholarship and later founded an artificial intelligence (AI) company that helps banks protect assets using a patent he invented. According to newly released data from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), more foreign-born workers in science, technology, engineering, and math fields are enjoying such happy endings. The jump comes after USCIS in January 2022 tweaked its guidance criteria relating to two visa categories available to STEM workers. One is the O1-A, a temporary visa for “aliens of “extraordinary ability” that often paves the way to a green card. The second, which bestows a green card on those with advanced STEM degrees, governs a subset of an EB-2 (employment-based) visa. The USCIS data, reported exclusively by Science Insider, show that the number of O-1A visas awarded in the first year of the revised guidance jumped by almost 30%, to 4570, and held steady in fiscal year 2023, which ended on 30 September. Similarly, the number of STEM EB-2 visas approved in 2022 after a “national interest” waiver shot up by 55% over 2021, to 70,240, and stayed at that level in 2023. “I’m seeing more aspiring and early-stage s...
Source: Science of Aging Knowledge Environment - Category: Geriatrics Source Type: research