Key Takeaways From December 2022 Visa Bulletin for Employment-Based Visas
In this blog we’ll be sharing key takeaways from the December 2022 visa bulletin.
Every month the US Department of State publishes a visa bulletin to inform the beneficiaries of immigrant petitions of their next step to complete the permanent residence (green card) process. The visa bulletin provides information to applicants applying for permanent residence to see when they can apply for an immigrant visa or adjustment of status. The bulletin updates can also give you an idea of when your applications can be approved.
First, let us see what annual limit the USCIS has set for the Fiscal Year 2023 for Employment-Based visas.
The data collected by the US Department of State and USCIS for the Fiscal Year 2022 shows that there were around 57,000 unused family-sponsored visas. This sets the annual limit for employment-based visas for the Fiscal Year 2023 at approximately 197,000.
The next key feature of the bulletin is the availability of visas in the Employment First Category (EB-1)
The visa number availability decreased in the Employment First category for the Fiscal Year 2023 compared to the Fiscal Year 2022. This combined with the increased demand and number of use is expected to speed up the processing of final action dates and application filing dates in the coming months. This will be done to hold the number used in the maximum allowed annual limits under the Fiscal Year 2023.
The Employment First category (EB-1) includes the following categories:
- Individuals of Extraordinary Ability (EB-1A)
- Outstanding Professors and Researchers (EB-1B)
- Multinational Managers and Executives (EB-1C)
If you are planning to apply under any of the before mentioned categories, you must take advantage of this expected processing of final action and application filing cutoff dates.
The updates for the Employment Second Preference (EB-2) are also given in the December Visa Bulletin
The US Department of State has established a worldwide Employment Second Preference final action and application filing dates that will be effective from December. All countries except for China and India will be subject to a final action date of November 1, 2022, and an application filing date of December 1, 2022. This is done to hold number use within the maximum annual limit set under the Fiscal Year 2023.
This employment-based category is for Professionals holding Advanced Degrees or Individuals of Exceptional Ability. Individuals applying for a National Interest Waiver are also included in this category. Therefore, the final action date and application filing date will allow them to avoid submitting a concurrent application for adjustment of status with an I-140 petition. They will still have to submit a simultaneous application if their priority date is earlier than December 1, 2022.
The Bulletin has also highlighted fewer visas for Indians in the Employment Second Preference (EB-2) category
The increased demand in the Employment First and Employment Second categories for India has resulted in lesser additional numbers in the Employment Second category than was estimated during the October and November final action and filing dates.
The Visa Bulletin for December 2022 has some good news for Indian and Chinese applicants in the Employment Third Preference (EB-3)
The Final Action for the Indian applicants will advance by more than two months to June 15, 2012, and the cutoff for Filing will advance by one month to August 1, 2012. The Employment Third Preference (EB-3) China Professional/Skilled Workers category will also advance by six weeks, to August 1, 2018, for Final Action and to September 1, 2018, for Filing Dates.
The USCIS has also notified that individuals who qualify for Adjustment of Status can submit forms I-485 in December based on the Application Filing Dates charts.
The applicants for the before-mentioned employment-based categories are advised to monitor updates on the Visa Bulletin in the coming months.
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