The Department of State (DOS) has determined that the fiscal year (FY) 2022 employment-based visa annual limit is 281,507, which is more than double the typical annual total. This increase is due to COVID-19. The pandemic caused a decrease in the issuance of family-based visas. Immigration law causes unused family-based visas to switch over to the employment-based category the following year. However, at the end of the year the unused visas go to waste.
With COVID-19 slowing down processing times tremendously, this has led to thousands of backlogged applications, yet a surplus of visas available. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services director, Ur Jaddou, stated that she is prioritizing not wasting any employment-based green cards in the upcoming fiscal year. This fiscal year, the annual limit for employment-based visa will still be higher than before the pandemic, but lower than in FY 2021 and FY 2022.
If you are interested in applying for a family-based or employment-based green card application, be sure to contact our firm to schedule a consultation with one of our attorneys today!
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