25 EB-2 NIW Statistics Every Applicant Should Know in 2026

EB-2 NIW approval rate statistics

1. EB-2 NIW approval rates fell to 55.2% for all of FY 2025. This represents a 15.8 percentage point drop from the 71% approval rate recorded in FY 2024.
2. Within FY 2025, EB-2 NIW approval rates decreased from 62.7% in Q1 to 35.7% in Q4. The last quarter marks the first time since FY 2022 where NIW denials outnumbered approvals, with 5,356 denials against just 2,968 approvals.
3. The EB-2 NIW denial rate reached 44.8% in FY 2025. For comparison, the denial rate stood at just 4.3% in FY 2022, suggesting that denials increased more than tenfold in three years.
4. USCIS approved over 90% of EB-2 NIW petitions in FY 2022. Approval rates have since dropped each consecutive fiscal year, falling from 95.7% in FY 2022 to 55.2% in FY 2025.

EB-2 NIW application volume statistics

1. USCIS received 66,276 EB-2 NIW petitions in FY 2025. This marks a 4.3% increase from FY 2024, suggesting that demand continues to grow despite the declining approval rate.
2. EB-2 NIW petition volume grew from 4,720 approvals in FY 2014 to 29,160 in FY 2023. The steepest growth came between FY 2020 and FY 2023, when annual filings more than doubled.
3. At the end of FY 2025, 74,392 NIW petitions sat in a pending backlog. That’s a 31% increase from the 56,611 cases pending at the start of the fiscal year.

EB-2 NIW processing times statistics

1. As of April 2026, USCIS reports that it takes 24 months to process 80% of Form I-140 NIW petitions. Though actual adjudication time may be shorter, standard applicants could expect to wait about two years to receive an initial decision.
2. EB-2 NIW processing times have increased by 4.5 months in just the past five months. This upward trend may suggest that the backlog is growing faster than USCIS is resolving it.
3. Premium processing for Form I-140 guarantees an initial decision within 45 business days. While it does not guarantee approval, it can eliminate the multi-year standard wait for applicants with time-sensitive work authorization needs.

India-specific EB-2 NIW statistics

• India-born applicants filed 9,196 EB-2 NIW petitions in FY 2025. That makes India the second largest source of NIW filings globally, behind China’s 12,081.
• The volume of Indian EB-2 NIW approvals grew significantly from FY 2014 to FY 2024. Within this decade, the sheer number of approvals climbed from 576 to 3,866.
• In FY 2025 alone, USCIS approved 1,930 Indian EB-2 NIW petitions. That’s a 50% drop from the peak recorded just one year prior.

Other country-specific EB-2 NIW statistics

1. Chinese nationals accounted for approximately 16.7% of all NIW petitions filed in Q4 FY 2025, the highest share of any country. For the full fiscal year, China represented 18.2% of all NIW filings, totaling 12,081 applications.
2. Brazil was the third-largest source of EB-2 NIW filings in FY 2025. Almost 10% of all petitions that year came from Brazilian nationals, reflecting growing awareness of this Green Card pathway among Latin American professionals.
3. Pakistan, Iran, and Nigeria contributed significantly to global EB-2 NIW filing volume in FY 2025. This geographic diversity suggests the NIW has become a popular, globally recognized category for high-skilled professionals across many fields.

EB-2 NIW vs. EB-1A comparison statistics

1. In FY 2025, USCIS approved 12,468 EB-1A petitions. With an approval rate of 66.9% for the fiscal year, the EB-1A’s stronger odds are worth considering for applicants who may qualify for both pathways.
2. Two years ago, the EB-1A and the EB-2 NIW categories had comparable denial rates. In Q4 FY 2025 alone, the former hit 46.6%, still below the NIW’s 64.3% that same quarter.
3. EB-2 NIW petitions were filed at more than twice the volume of EB-1A petitions in FY 2025. The NIW drew 66,276 filings compared to 29,582 for the EB-1A, yet posted a lower approval rate: 55.2% versus 66.9%.
4. EB-1A processing times also climbed between December 2025 and April 2026. The 5.5-month increase brings standard EB-1A processing to 23.5 months — nearly identical to the NIW’s current 24-month estimate.