The United States State Department (DOS) and United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) have announced the exhaustion of all available immigrant visas in the Employment-Based First Preference (EB-1) category and in the Employment-Based Third Preference (EB-3) category for the 2025 fiscal year, which runs from October 1, 2024, to September 30, 2025. The EB-1 category comprises Aliens of Extraordinary Ability, Outstanding Professors and Researchers, and Multinational Executives and Managers.

By law, the number of EB-1 immigrant visas that may be issued every fiscal year is 28.6% of the worldwide employment-based immigrant visa limit. The number of EB-3 immigrant visas that may be issued every fiscal year is also 28.6%, with up to 10,000 to be used for the EW “Other Workers” subcategory. All available EB-1, EB-3, and EW immigrant visas for FY 2025 have now been used.  This means that United States embassies and consulates cannot issue any more EB-1 or EB-3 immigrant visas until the 2026 fiscal year begins on October 1, 2025. USCIS also cannot approve any more adjustment of status (AOS) applications based on EB-1 or EB-3 petitions until October 1, 2025, regardless of the applicant’s priority date.

Although no more AOS applications based on EB-1 or EB-3 petitions may be approved by USCIS until October 1, the agency should continue accepting AOS applications for the rest of September, provided that the applicant’s priority date is current under the cut-off dates specified in the September Visa Bulletin. Any AOS applicants whose applications are based on EB-1 or EB-3 petitions that have been scheduled to attend AOS interviews at local USCIS offices should attend these interviews; the interviewing officer should conduct the interview and, if he/she finds the application approvable, will inform the applicant that the application has been provisionally approved, but that permanent resident status cannot be granted until October 1 at the earliest.

T&S Takeaway

The exhaustion of all immigrant visas in the EB-1 category is somewhat unexpected, since the August and September Visa Bulletins, while indicating a likely unavailability in the EB-2 and EB-3 categories, made no mention of a similar unavailability in the EB-1 category.

The fact that FY 2025 is close to its end on September 30, and a new quota of immigrant visas will be available on October 1, means that the fallout from this exhaustion will be only temporary, however. T&S will continue to closely monitor all developments in this regard, including the monthly issuance of Visa Bulletins by the DOS, and will provide further updates periodically.