NIW & EB-1A Approval Rates —
Every Fiscal Year
Compiled from USCIS Form I-140 adjudication data, decided cases only (approved ÷ approved + denied). FY2018–FY2026 Q3. Updated quarterly as USCIS publishes new figures.
NIW is recovering while EB-1A falls to 32%
NIW approval rates slid from 83% in FY2023 to 71% in FY2024 and 55% in FY2025, bottoming at 36% in Q4 FY2025 after USCIS tightened its "prong 2" scrutiny under Matter of Dhanasar while filings roughly tripled (about 22,000 in FY2022 to about 66,000 in FY2025). FY2026 has run the other way. NIW came in at 43% in Q1, 48% in Q2, and 55% in Q3, the first quarter since Q3 FY2025 with more approvals than denials. EB-1A moved in the opposite direction: 47% in Q1, 42% in Q2, and 32% in Q3, when USCIS denied 2,832 EB-1A petitions and approved 1,348. EB-1A now has the lowest approval rate of any employment-based category, while EB-1B (93%) and EB-1C (97%) are essentially unchanged. The NIW recovery comes with a growing queue: about 96,300 NIW petitions were pending at the end of Q3, up from about 82,900 at the end of Q1.
Source: USCIS Immigration and Citizenship Data — "Form I-140 by Fiscal Year, Quarter and Case Status," published quarterly · Approval rate = approved ÷ (approved + denied) · Pending cases excluded · Last updated: