STEM degree?

Question:

I did my Masters in USA and after gaining some professional experience I am now thinking to do PhD. I never know that a PhD student will be having a edge in getting Green Card until I saw your detailed explanation in the site. Now after reading the brief explanation which you have provided in your site, it flashed in my mind to know whether I will be having enough credentials to apply for green card once Iam done with my PhD. I am planning to do PhD in the field of Management Information Systems. I came to know that it doesnt fall into the category of STEM Degrees. I heard a rumour that only those degrees which fall into the category of STEM are eligible for green card processing. Is that true? Its not that I am going to do PhD just for the sake of getting green card. Since there is an option to apply for green card, I just wanted to know whether the degree in which I am planning to do my PhD is qualified enough for the green card processing.

Answer

It is certainly not true that EB1A or EB2-NIW require the applicant to have a STEM degree. In fact people without a PhD degree can also apply in EB2-NIW as long as they can justify their work under NIW criteria set by USCIS. We suggest you read the USCIS criteria (present else where on our site) for both EB1A and EB2-NIW.

That said, we do not have petition experience with a non-STEM cases. However, the approach behind either STEM or non-STEM petition is not different. One could use a STEM application as an example to build a strong non-STEM case as long they know that their main goal is to satisfy USCIS criteria and present this coherently to the examiner in the petition.

In general, the EB1 category has a sub category “Multinational managers or Executive”. However unlike EB1A (extraordinary ability category), this requires a sponsorship.

best of luck