Employment-Based Visa Numbers: Fiscal Year 2023

The U.S. Department of State (DOS) estimates that there will be approximately 200,000 available employment-based immigrant visas for Fiscal Year (FY) 2023, which begins on October 1, 2022. This limit is set to be higher than the average limits in the fiscal years prior to the pandemic, but significantly lower than the limits in FY2021 (262,000) and FY2022 (281,507).

Normally, the number of employment-based immigrant visas that may be issued each year at the worldwide level is limited to 140,000 per fiscal year. The anticipated increase in the available employment-based visa numbers for the upcoming FY2023 is based on the “spillover” of the amount of unused family-based visa numbers from FY2022. Currently, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and DOS estimate that there are around 60,000 unused family-based visa numbers. This number of unused visas is mainly the result of the slow family-based immigrant visa processing at US Embassies and consular posts abroad, which typically accounts for 85% usage of available visa numbers in the fiscal year.

Earlier this month, the USCIS and DOS released the October 2022 Visa Bulletin, which showed a significant retrogression for EB-2 India under both the Final Action Dates chart and the Dates for Filing chart. The EB-2 India retrogression is likely due to the high number of EB-2 interfiling requests, also known as “upgrades,” that were filed in FY2022 and are still pending with the USCIS. Similar to past years, USCIS will accept Adjustment of Status applications under the Dates of Filing chart at the beginning of FY2023 in the October 2022 Visa Bulletin, allowing for certain applicants to file the green card applications while waiting for their priority dates to become current under the Final Action Dates.

We recommend clients who are eligible to file the Adjustment of Status application under Dates for Filing Chart in October to review our site for more information about the process. We will continue to monitor the Department of State’s Visa Bulletins each month and will provide updates as information becomes available.