Approval stories
EB-2 NIW approval stories: 7 cases from the community chats
Updated: Author: Alina Kanametova
7 anonymized EB-2 NIW approval stories from the community chats: 40% without an RFE, median 173 days to approval, 0% filed on their own.
The stories below are experience; the EB-2 NIW visa requirements and criteria are on the visa page.
Based on: 129 approval stories told by their applicants · filed 2022-2026
7stories
40%without RFE
173 daysmedian duration
0%self-filed
By filing year
| Year | Stories | No RFE | Median, days | Premium |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 2 | 50% | 150 | 100% |
| 2025 | 1 | - | - | - |
| 2024 | 1 | 0% | 272 | - |
| 2023 | 3 | 50% | 149 | 0% |
Shares are computed only over stories where the fact is known; the median runs from filing to approval over stories with dates.
What else the group shows
- Budget, where stated: under $5k - 2.
- Filed from outside the US: 50% (where known).
- Premium processing: 67% (where known).
- Most often: Researcher (3), Software engineer (2), Civil engineer (1), Founder / entrepreneur (1).
IT / software (1)
Business / entrepreneurship (1)
Science / research (3)
- EB-2 NIW approval for a researcher: no RFE and with premium processingEB-2 NIW · Researcher · no RFE · premium · 2026
- EB-2 NIW approval for a researcher: the path to a green cardEB-2 NIW · Researcher · after an RFE · premium · 2026
- EB2-NIW approval for a researcher: process and timelineEB-2 NIW · Researcher · 2023
Engineering / STEM (2)
Stories for the other visas
The stories are anonymized community experience, not legal advice and no guarantee of an outcome: officers may decide similar cases differently. Requirements and timelines change - verify on uscis.gov.