Each year, the US state department makes a predetermined number of visas available to those foreign nationals who seek permanent residence in the US. The visa numbers are made available based on the applicant's country of citizenship and preference category. Because of the high demand of applicants from certain countries and in various preference categories, many visa numbers are unavailable, causing severe back logs compounding year-to-year for many permanent resident (green card) applications.
The Visa Office estimates that all 140,000 visa numbers allotted will be used in the current fiscal year (from October 1, 2008 to September 30, 2009) based on usage the first half of the current fiscal year. They report that there has been a surge in usage of the employment-based fourth and fifth preference numbers which impacts other employment-based categories because, historically, there have been substantial unused numbers in these categories which have been used to meet demand for visas in the employment-based second and third preference categories, allowing high demand countries' (i.e. China and India) cut-off dates to advance further than would be possible if those categories are limited to only their annual limits. The Visa Office also predicts the following:
The employment-based first preference (EB1) category remains current (no wait to apply in this category) and is likely to remain current for worldwide applicants for the rest of the fiscal year, but demand is high. Due to high demand, this category for India and China nationals, which is current during the month of July 2009, could require the establishment of a cut-off date in August or September should EB1 demand remain heavy. As described above, Chinese and Indian applicants have previously benefited from the excess of EB1 numbers for all other countries because unused visa numbers from other countries are granted to India and China. The high demand from other countries this year means there are fewer extra numbers available to India and China.
As of July 2009, Indian and Chinese applicants eligible for employment-based second preference category (EB2) have a cut-off date of January 1, 2000, and the category may become unavailable in August or September of 2009. While 2,800 visas are available to Indian applicants in this category this year, there are currently approximately 25,000 EB2 India cases which have been reviewed by USCIS and await available visa numbers. Likewise, there are a significant amount of EB2 China cases which have been reviewed by USCIS and are awaiting visa numbers for approval of the adjustment of status.
Currently, the employment-based third preference category (EB3) is unavailable for applicants from any country and will remain so for the remainder of this fiscal year. As of the start of the new fiscal year in October 2009, the State Department predicts that EB3 worldwide, EB3 China, and EB3 Mexico will become available with a cut off date of March 1, 2003, while EB3 India will likely become available with a cut off date of Novemebr 1, 2001.
While these predictions are based on current usage and can certainly be effected by unforeseen changes in filing frequency, all information clearly indicates that the wait times for green cards applications, especially for those applicants from India and China in the second and third employment based preferences, can be expected to grow longer and longer. Further, those categories that have historically always been available may not continue to be so. The Bae Law Group urges clients who have concerns about lengthy wait times for green cards to contact their legislators regarding this growing problem in immigration processing.
|
