What’s the Status of US Employment-Based Visa Backlogs?

2.5 minute read

"The US Department of State issued the Visa Bulletin for October 2021 on September 13, 2021. This bulletin highlighted little advancement in clearing the backlog of employment-based immigrant visas compared to October 2020, which allowed thousands of employment-based visa holders to apply for adjustment of status."

Written by My Visa Source Team
Published on: Oct 23, 2021

The US Department of State issued the Visa Bulletin for October 2021 on September 13, 2021. This bulletin highlighted little advancement in clearing the backlog of employment-based immigrant visas compared to October 2020, which allowed thousands of employment-based visa holders to apply for adjustment of status.

The fiscal year starts on October 1 every year. That is when the new immigrant visas are made available in addition to the unused family-based immigrant visas from the previous year. However, this addition does not guarantee that additional visas will be processed and issued on time.

What Were the Notable Updates in the Visa Bulletin for October 2021?

The Visa Bulletin for October 2021 saw the removal of Vietnam from its backlog category. Vietnam is now included in the “All Chargeability” category. This means that applicants from Vietnam will be “charged” towards the annual quota of immigrant visas available to Vietnam. Other than that, EB-1, EB-2, EB-3, and “Other Workers” applications were made available everywhere from October 1, 2021, except India and China.

There was virtually no advancement in the priority dates for employment-based visas. The priority dates for EB-2, EB-3, and “Other Workers” for India and China remained the same as September 2021.

The Dates for Filing, meaning the date on which green card applicants living overseas can go ahead and submit their applications to the National Visa Center (NVC) also showed little change. The EB-2 priority date for India advanced from December 2011 to July 2012. The priority dates for Eb-3 and the “Other Workers” category moved in the opposite direction, from March 2014 to January 2014.

How Can US Employers and Foreign Workers Prepare for the Future?

As the data shows, the USCIS has a current significant backlog of Form I-485. The backlog in employment-based visas at the end of the third quarter of 2021 was greater than the number of applications received during the first 3 quarters of 2021. The total number of applications received in the first 3 quarters stood at 246,183 and the backlog at the end of the third quarter stood at 288,677.

What Is the Reason for the Significant Backlogs with the Employment-Based Visas?

One of the major reasons for significant backlogs in employment-based visas is the country caps imposed according to the US Immigration law. The law mandates that no more than 7% of the total employment-based visas can be issued to applicants from a single country. Therefore, countries with high immigration rates to the US such as China and India face significant backlogs in applying for employment-based visas. Applicants from these countries have to wait for years at a time to obtain permanent residence in the US.