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 Third Preference Professional and Skilled Worker category (EB-3) and the Unskilled or Other Workers (EW) category for the 2024 fiscal year, which runs from October 1, 2023, to September 30, 2024.  By law, the number of EB-3 immigrant visas that may be issued every fiscal year is 28.6% of the worldwide employment-based immigrant visa limit, with no more than 10,000 available in the EW category.  All available EB-3 and EW immigrant visas for FY 2024 have now been used.  This means that United States embassies and consulates cannot issue any more EB-3 and EW immigrant visas until the 2025 fiscal year begins on October 1, 2024.  USCIS also cannot approve any more adjustment of status (AOS) applications based on EB-3 and EW petitions until October 1, regardless of the applicant’s priority date.

In a separate statement, DOS and USCIS have announced the similar exhaustion of all available immigrant visas in the Employment-Based Fifth Preference (EB-5) Employment Creation Unreserved category for the 2024 fiscal year. By law, the number of EB-5 immigrant visas that may be issued every fiscal year is 7.1% of the worldwide employment-based immigrant visa limit, with 68% of these available to an “unreserved” category. Reserved categories include petitioners who invest in a rural area, in a high unemployment area, and in infrastructure projects.

Although no more AOS applications based on EB-3, EW, and EB-5 Unreserved petitions may be approved by USCIS until October 1, the agency should continue accepting AOS applications for the rest of August and September, provided that the applicant’s priority date is current under the cut-off dates specified in the August and September Visa Bulletins. These Bulletins and discussions of them are available in the Alerts that we distributed on July 10 and August 8. Any AOS applicants whose applications are based on EB-3, EW, or Unreserved EB-5 petitions that have been scheduled to attend AOS interviews and 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-3, EW, and EB-5 Unreserved categories is not a welcome development and underscores the unsatisfactory nature of the current immigrant visa quotas or limits, which were set in 1990 and have not been increased since. The fact that FY 2024 is close to its end on September 30, and that 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.