Employment-Based Visa Numbers No Longer Available

On July 2, in an unprecedented reversal, the U.S. Department of State published a revised July 2007 Visa Bulletin stating that effective immediately, there will be no visa numbers available in any employment-based (EB) visa categories. (Click here to read the full revised bulletin.)

The original release, published just weeks ago on June 13, indicated that visa numbers would be available ("current") in July for all employment-based categories for all countries. The Department of State took this most recent unexpected action in response to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) having exhausted the annual allotment of employment-based visas in June. Visa numbers will again be available on October 1, 2007 for the 2008 fiscal year.

Here are several key points to consider with regard to the Department of State's announcement:

• No I-485 Adjustment of Status applications will be accepted by USCIS in the EB-1, EB-2 or EB-3 (or EB-4 and EB-5) categories until October 1, 2007. This applies to all countries of birth.
• Although visa numbers will be available again as of October 1, 2007, it is likely that there will be visa backlogs in some of the employment-based categories, particularly for persons born in India and China.
• Currently pending I-485 applications and consular processing applications that were not approved in June 2007 now cannot be approved until October 1, 2007 or later.
• Medical exams obtained for I-485 applications remain valid for 12 months from the date of the exam.

The Department of State releases the Visa Bulletin around the middle of each month to provide visa number availability for the following month. Please click here for more information. Our office will continue to monitor all developments related to visa availability in the employment-based categories.