EB2 NIW for Data Scientists
and AI Researchers (2026)

Why it works: Executive Order on AI (Oct 2023) explicitly names AI safety as a national security priority. USCIS adjudicators have been receptive to AI safety research petitions.

Examples: RLHF research, interpretability work, red-teaming/evaluation of frontier models

Why it works: NIH grants and FDA digital health initiatives document national interest in ML for clinical decision support, drug discovery, and genomics.

Examples: Radiology AI, EHR prediction models, drug-protein interaction ML, sepsis risk scoring

Why it works: DoD AI strategy explicitly calls for AI talent. Working at a defense contractor or on DARPA-funded projects is powerful supporting evidence.

Examples: Anomaly detection, satellite imagery analysis, adversarial ML, threat intelligence systems

Why it works: DHS identifies 16 critical infrastructure sectors. ML systems protecting power grids, water systems, or financial networks qualify.

Examples: Grid stability prediction, fraud detection for financial systems, cybersecurity ML at infrastructure operators

Why it works: Biden IRA and DOE investments document national priority. ML for energy efficiency, grid optimization, or climate modeling maps cleanly.

Examples: Demand forecasting for grid operators, carbon sequestration optimization, extreme weather prediction ML