This article provides an update on the number of employment-based green cards issued last year and available this year.
USCIS confirmed that they were able to use all the employment-based visas in FY 2022, except for 6396 EB-5 visas that had carried over from the previous year. USCIS approved more than 220,000 employment-based adjustments of status applications.
The Department of State (DOS) estimates that there are 197,000 employment-based immigrant visas available for FY 2023. Typically, each year there are 140,000 employment-based visas. 197,000 includes an additional 57,000 unused family visas from the previous fiscal year. Each year the employment-based visas are distributed as follows:
| Category | % |
| EB-1 | 28.6% |
| EB-2 | 28.6% |
| EB-3 | 28.6% |
| EB-4 | 7.1% |
| EB-5 | 7.1% |
These percentages apply to the 140,000 annual allotment of visas plus the additional unused family visas, which in FY2023 is another 57,000. Due to the pandemic, Consulates have been operating at a reduced capacity over the last 3 years, and any unused family visas were added to the employment visas at the start of the fiscal year. The last two fiscal years saw almost double the number of employment-based visas due to consulate closures etc., however, now that Consulates are resuming their normal activities, the number of unused family visas is significantly less in FY 2023.
We already know that USCIS has a lot of pending applications. According to a lawsuit filed by Brad Banias, there were 42,000 pending EB-2 cases for India at the end of the fiscal year 2022. The number of pending EB-3 cases is not known.
If you have any questions related to any of the above please contact PLG Partner cprecsott@patellegal.com.