NIW appeals for Ph.D. students
49 of 3,701 NIW appeals decided under Matter of Dhanasar describe the petitioner as a Ph.D. student. Here is where they struggled and the objections the appeals office raised most often.
Every appeal here was a petition USCIS had already denied, so these numbers show where denied petitions struggled, not anyone's chance of approval. Tags are matched automatically from the decision text.
Appeals
49
decided on the merits
Sustained
2
4.1%: the petitioner won
Remanded
3
6.1%: sent back to USCIS
Dismissed
44
89.8%: the denial stood
Objections raised most often
Share of these 49 appeals. Open one for what it means and what has answered it.
- 69%34 appeals
- 57%28 appeals
- 51%25 appeals
- 35%17 appeals
- 24%12 appeals
- 24%12 appeals
- 24%12 appeals
- 22%11 appeals
Which part of the test was not met
An appeal can fail more than one; many stop at the first
- 2%1 appeals
- 29%14 appeals
- 63%31 appeals
- 12%6 appeals
Appeals per year
Occupations in these appeals
As the decisions describe them
Recent appeals
- 2026-07-20DismissedDoctoral student and a researcher in the field of industrial engineeringEngineeringNot metProng 2
- 2026-07-09DismissedPostdoctoral researcher requires a doctoral degreeClinical & healthNot metProng 2
- 2026-03-03DismissedPh.D. student in civil engineeringEngineeringNot metProng 1
- 2026-02-05DismissedPh.D. student in informaticsComputing, AI & dataNot metProng 1
- 2026-02-04DismissedEngineer and researcherEngineeringNot metProng 1Prong 2
- 2026-02-04DismissedOccupation not statedBiomedical & life sciencesNot metProng 2
By career stage: other pages
General patterns from past decisions, not legal advice. A licensed immigration attorney can tell you how the law applies to your case.