The single, most important, factor in any immigration case. The Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) sets limits on how many green card visas may be issued each Fiscal Year (October 1 through September 30) in all family and employment visa categories.
In the employment-based area where immigration is based on employment and not family relationships or investment, nationals of each country may obtain immigrant visas or green cards, in different employment-based (EB) preference categories. This is a system that establishes priorities for workers depending upon their skill level. The preference ("priority") categories are:
- EB-1 - Priority workers;
- EB-2 - Professionals with advanced degrees and persons of exceptional ability;
- EB-3 - Skilled workers, professionals and other workers;
- EB-4 - Special workers; and
- EB-5 - Investors
The law further provides that no one country may have more than a specific percentage of the total number of visas available annually. If these limits are exceeded in a particular category, for a particular country, a waiting list is created and applicants are placed on the list according to the date of their case filing ("quota backlog"). This date is called a "Priority Date."
In general, Physicians fall in the employment-based second preference category (EB-2).
For the month of July, The
DOS Visa Bulletin shows that EB-1 visas are current, EB-3 visas are "unavailable" (visa availability in this category will resume in October, the first month of the new fiscal year) and EB-2 visas are current for all countries except for China mainland born and India. For China and India the Priority Dates for the month of July are January 1, 2000. Sadly, for China and India the"quota backlog" seems to be the norm and physicians from thesecountries who havefollowed all the rules of a very complex immigration system have no idea when they will get to be permanent residents in the U.S.
As a consequence, this month, The Department of State Advised on Dire State of Affairs regarding Visa Number Availability for Those Born in India or China!
The Department of State recently provided an update to the American Immigration Layers Association (AILA) regarding estimated visa availability for employment based visas for individuals from India and China. AILA Doc. No. 09061032
Cite as "AILA InfoNet Doc. No. 09061032 (posted Jun. 10, 2009)"
Mr. Charles Oppenheim of the Department of State Visa Office has advised AILA of the following predictions for the movement of priority dates for the remainder of FY2009 and future years. He estimates that all employment-based immigrant visa numbers will be used this fiscal year (October 1, 2008 through September 30, 2009). Mr. Oppenheim notes that the estimates provided on visa availability for the remainder of FY2009 were based on USCIS processing during the first 7 ½ months of the fiscal year, and any changes to USCIS processing patterns would impact availability. Mr. Oppenheim reported:
The EB-1 category worldwide will remain current the rest of the fiscal year but demand is high. However, the EB-1 categories for India and China will be current during the month of July 2009, but could require the establishment of a cut-off date in August or September.
EB-2 India. The prognosis is grim. For July 2009, the cut-off date is January 1, 2000, and the category may become unavailable in August or September of 2009. There are currently approximately 25,000 EB-2 India cases which have been reviewed by USCIS and queued up at the Department of State awaiting visa numbers for the "green cards" to be approved.
EB-2 China. The prognosis is equally grim. As of July 2009, the cut-off date will be January 1, 2000 and the category may become unavailable in August or September of 2009. There are a significant amount of EB-2 China cases which have been reviewed by USCIS and queued up at the Department of State awaiting visa numbers for approval of the adjustment of status.
EB-3 Worldwide will be unavailable the remainder of this fiscal year. As the Department of Labor cleared its long backlog of Alien Labor Certification cases, there were tens of thousands of I-485 applications with priority dates in 2004 and earlier years which were processed by USCIS this year. The Department of State currently estimates that, as of October 1, 2009, the EB-3 worldwide cut-off date will be March 1, 2003. There will be extended delays in this category.
For the full report
click here.
With this latest news, we hope that congress passes Comprehensive Immigration Reform this year eliminating the backlog issues affecting thousands of immigrants.
