National importance для NIW: официальные источники

This memorandum outlines the Administration's multi-agency R&D priorities for formulating fiscal year (FY) 2023 Budget submissions to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). The priorities covered in this memo require continued investments in R&D; science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and engagement; STEM workforce development; technology transfer and commercialization; and research infrastructure, with emphasis on Historically Black Colleges and Universities, other Minority Serving Institutions, and disadvantaged communities who have been historically underserved, marginalized, and adversely affected by persistent poverty and inequality. […]

Pandemic readiness and prevention. COVID-19 has claimed more than 600,000 lives in America and cost trillions of dollars, demonstrating the devastating effects of pandemics. As the Nation emerges from this historic event, it is more important than ever not to become complacent in ensuring readiness to meet the challenge of the next emerging pandemic. Agencies should continue to build upon previous R&D investments in early warning systems, diagnostics, therapies, and vaccine development and manufacturing to prevent and respond to pandemic and other biological threats, both domestically and globally. […]

Tackling climate change. The United States and the world face a profound climate crisis with a narrow moment to pursue action to avoid the most catastrophic impacts and to seize the opportunities that tackling climate change presents. This crisis is interconnected with the staggering levels of biodiversity loss occurring across the globe because climate change is exacerbating the impacts that other drivers are having on biodiversity. […]

Catalyze research and innovation in critical and emerging technologies. Agencies should collaborate to promote world-leading research and innovation boosting American industries and quality American jobs in critical and emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI), quantum information science (QIS), advanced communications technologies, microelectronics, high-performance computing, biotechnology, robotics, and space technologies. Agencies should coordinate to leverage these technologies to ensure the sharing and use of the vast troves of Federal Government datasets to enable large-scale data analysis, and high-fidelity, high-resolution modeling and simulation to address critical challenges in public health, climate science, and disaster resilience. […]

National security and economic resilience. Agencies’ plans and budgets should support the research, development, and application of technologies that protect American security and strengthen our economic resilience. Investments in security should prioritize the reduction of catastrophic biological, nuclear, and cyber risks, including investments in technologies supporting: biosecurity and biosafety; nuclear nonproliferation, arms control and treaty verification, measures that lower the risk of nuclear accidents and miscalculation, and measures that enhance strategic stability; […]

Immigrants made up almost one-fourth, or 23.1 percent, of all STEM workers in the United States in 2019, a significant increase from just 16.4 percent in 2000. • While the overall number of STEM workers in the United States increased by 44.5 percent between 2000 and 2019, the number of immigrant STEM workers more than doubled over the same period. By 2019, there were almost 2.5 million immigrant STEM workers, compared to just 1.2 million in 2000. • Immigrants from India formed the largest country of birth group among immigrant STEM workers, at 28.9 percent of all foreign-born STEM workers in 2019. There were also significant numbers of STEM workers who were born in China (273,000), Mexico (119,000), and Vietnam (100,000). • The foreign-born share of workers in the largest STEM occupation groups—computer and math, and engineering occupations—has increased since 2000. The largest increase was seen among computer and math occupations, where the immigrant share of the workforce grew from 17.7 percent in 2000 to 26.1 percent in 2019. […]

According to projections made in 2022 by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the United States will need approximately one million more STEM workers in 2030 than it did in 2020. This does not include the number of STEM workers that will be needed to replace retiring workers or workers who leave the field for other reasons. To meet this growing demand, the United States will need to increase the number of students who receive undergraduate and graduate STEM degrees. But while increasing the number of U.S.-born workers in STEM fields is critical, demographic trends indicate that foreign-born STEM students and workers are likely to be needed if the United States is to be prepared for future labor demands and continue to excel globally.

Computer and Math: Among STEM workers in computer and math occupations, software developers were by far the largest single occupation. In 2019, there were 647,000 immigrant software developers, making up 39.2 percent of all software developers (Table 4). In fact, software developers made up 47.3 percent of all foreign-born workers in the computer and math category in 2019. Foreign-born software developers made up almost 6 percent of the total number of STEM workers in the United States, but made up more than 1 in 4 (25.9 percent) of all foreign-born STEM workers.

Engineering: In the engineering category, foreign-born workers were most prominent in computer hardware engineering. In 2019, almost 4 out of 10 computer hardware engineers (or 24,000) were foreignborn. Immigrants also made up around one-quarter of all electrical and electronic engineers (25.4 percent); petroleum, mining, and geological engineers (23.7 percent); and biomedical and agricultural engineers (24.8 percent). Among all other kinds of engineers not listed separately, immigrants made up 24.0 percent of the workforce (Table 5).

Overview In January 2022, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) updated its policy guidance to clarify how certain professionals in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) can demonstrate eligibility for (a) the National Interest Waiver (NIW) in an employment-based immigrant status (EB-2), and (b) nonimmigrant status for individuals of extraordinary ability (O-1A). This fact sheet highlights data trends in these categories during Fiscal Year (FY) 2022 and FY 2023 compared with fiscal years prior to the policy guidance change. These trends include an increase in receipts of EB-2 petitions from FY 2022 to FY 2023 and increases in National Interest Waiver use and O-1A petition receipts. Updated policy guidance Certain noncitizens with an advanced degree or exceptional ability may self-petition for the EB-2 employment-based immigrant visa classification using Form I-140. Those seeking the NIW are requesting that the requirement to secure a job offer, and thus the requirement to obtain labor certification issued by the Department of Labor (DOL), be waived in the interest of the United States. […]

EB-2 receipts increased following the policy guidance change From FY 2021 to FY 2022, total receipts of Form I-140 with and without waivers (combined) increased by 20 percent, from 70,600 to 84,470 (see Figure 1). Receipts continued to increase by another 10 percent from FY 2022 to FY 2023. Approvals increased by 60 percent from 57,810 in FY 2021 to 92,280 in FY 2022, but decreased about 12 percent from 92,280 in FY 2022 to 81,380 in FY 2023. The approval rate remained at 90 percent or above throughout FY 2018 - FY 2023 (see Table 1).

Increasing number of EB-2 petitioners are requesting a National Interest Waiver From FY 2021 to FY 2022, although petitions without NIWs remained the majority of I-140 receipts, the percentage of receipts with NIWs compared to those without NIWs continued to grow, from 21 percent to 26 percent. It increased further from 26 percent in FY 2022 to 43 percent in FY 2023 (see Figure 3). The number of petitions with NIWs almost doubled, from 21,990 in FY 2022 to 39,810 in FY 2023; the number of petitions without NIWs dropped from 62,490 to 53,200 (see Table 1).

Approvals of O-1A petitions in STEM fields increased by 33 percent from FY 2022 to FY 2023 From FY 2021 to FY 2022, total approvals of STEM-related O-1A Form I-129 petitions increased 29 percent, from 3,550 to 4,570. From FY 2022 to FY 2023, approvals remained almost the same, from 4,570 to 4,560 (see Figure 5). Approvals of non-STEM-related petitions followed a similar trend increasing 21 percent, from 3,410 in FY 2021 to 4,140 in FY 2022. Approvals increased slightly from 4,140 in FY 2022 to 4,380 in FY 2023.