As of August 29, 2024, Department of State (DOS) has confirmed that all numbers in the EB-1, EB-3, EW (other workers), EB-4, and EB-5 (unreserved) preference categories for FY2024 have been utilized and no further immigrant visas or green cards will be issued for these categories for the remainder of this fiscal year, which ends on September 30, 2024.
This development is not unexpected. As reported, DOS had warned that due to high demand for visa numbers in the employment-based categories, it might be necessary “to immediately make [a] preference category ‘unavailable,’ and no further requests for numbers would be honored.”
Based on this warning, it is also foreseeable that the EB-2 category will become unavailable in the very near future, however, further date movement will depend on worldwide demand for EB-2 and the estimated FY-2025 category limit.
As noted, when numbers become unavailable, no further visas/green cards in the relevant preference categories will be issued for the remainder of this fiscal year, which ends on September 30, 2024. USCIS has confirmed that it will continue to accept adjustment of status applications for the remainder of the month in accordance with the September 2024 Visa Bulletin and the Adjustment of Status (AoS) Filing Charts from the Visa Bulletin, but will not approve any cases this month. Typically, when visa numbers are fully utilized, DOS will not publish a new Visa Bulletin for the month.
Per DOS, “[t]he annual limits will reset with the start of the new fiscal year (FY 2025) on October 1, 2024. At that point, embassies and consulates may resume issuing immigrant visas in these categories to qualified applicants.” The same will apply for USCIS as well.
EB-1 visas became unavailable as of August 27, 2024. EB-3 and EW visas became unavailable as of August 16, 2024. EB-4 visas became unavailable as of August 29, 2024. EB-5 Unreserved visas became unavailable as of August 16, 2024.
EB-3 and Other Workers Categories
DOS retrogressed the EB-3 final action dates for Rest of World, Mexico, and the Philippines, as well as the EW final action dates for Rest of World and Mexico. The issuance totals in these categories are rapidly approaching the annual limit for FY-2024, necessitating this slowdown of issuance rates. It is anticipated that the final action dates will advance in October 2024; however, date movement will depend on worldwide demand for EB-3 and EW visas and the estimated FY-2025 category limit.
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