Statistics-included
Positioning & evidence · Prong 2
Panels ask for traction, not degrees.
A degree is the one exhibit the denial record concedes — and still finds insufficient.
In the denial record
The degree is the one evidence type with material credit on the dismissed side — 47.8% of degree items credited, against 4.6% for citations and 0.4% for business plans — and still insufficient alone.
coded appeal decisions · S57
In the sustained decisions
Citations argued as adoption evidence appear in 84% of sustained decisions against 26% of losses; documented funding in 26% against 4%.
sustained decisions (n=89) · stratified dismissals (n=202) · S82
Published approvals
Citations stated: 153 in 50–200, 98 over 200, 97 under 50, 131 unstated. Named funding: 1; named adoption: 3.
of a 479-approval stratified sample of law-firm published approvals
Advertised approvals a firm chose to publish — a story is counted where it advances an argument, not where it proved decisive — and never merged with the appeal record.
Work on this with your AI
Copy this prompt, paste it to your AI assistant, and add your draft where marked.
I am preparing an EB-2 NIW (National Interest Waiver) petition and want you to review a draft against a finding from the public record of NIW decisions. THE FINDING: Panels ask for traction, not degrees. A degree is the one exhibit the denial record concedes — and still finds insufficient. YOUR TASK: Find every place my draft leans on degrees or titles. Propose where evidence of traction — citations used as adoption, funding, implementation — should carry the argument instead. RULES: Work only from what I paste — do not invent facts about me. Do not predict outcomes or estimate chances. Point to specific sentences and propose concrete rewrites. --- MY DRAFT --- [Paste your draft here]
The prompt asks your AI to review your own draft against this finding — it never predicts an outcome.
Sources & references
Primary docFOIA’d officer-training binder, Citations section — counts require qualitative context
Insight vaultInsight vault: Letters & independent validation →
Each record describes itself; sustained decisions are the wins inside the appeal record, not a separate population. No figure predicts an individual outcome.