U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Updates Guidance on National Interest Waivers

On January 21, 2022, USCIS announced updated guidance on adjudicating requests for National Interest Waiver applications regarding job offer and labor certification requirements for certain advanced degree professionals and individuals of exceptional ability. This includes considering the unique factors for persons with advanced degrees in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields and entrepreneurs. In accordance with the Biden Administration’s goal of removing barriers to legal immigration, USCIS is clarifying how the National Interest Waiver can be used by STEM graduates and entrepreneurs, as well as the significance of letters from governmental and quasi-governmental entities. The updated guidance also serves to promote effective and efficient processing of benefits consistent with President Biden’s Executive Order 14012, Restoring Faith in Our Legal Immigration Systems and Strengthening Integration and Inclusion Efforts for New Americans.

The updated USCIS guidance on STEM fields states, in part: “USCIS recognizes the importance of progress in STEM fields and the essential role of persons with advanced STEM degrees in fostering this progress, especially in focused critical and emerging technologies or other STEM areas important to U.S. competitiveness or national security… [it] considers an advanced degree, particularly a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), in a STEM field tied to the proposed endeavor and related to work furthering a critical and emerging technology or other STEM area important to U.S. competitiveness or national security, an especially positive factor to be considered along with other evidence.”