Positive News for Some Indi... | Lippes Mathias LLP

Positive News for Some Individuals Stuck in Priority Date Backlogs: Record Number of Employment-based Immigrant Visa Numbers Will be Available in FY2021

June 19, 2020 | Immigration Blog

The DoS predicts that over 200,000 employment-based immigrant visa numbers will be available in FY2021. This is the highest number in recent memory, and it represents about a 22% increase from FY2020.

The reason for the increase is the expectation that a large number of family-based immigrant visas will go unused in FY2020. Applicable laws require that the number of unused family-based immigrant visas be added to the FY2021 employment-based immigrant visa annual limit.

Therefore, unused family-based numbers in FY2020 translate into additional employment-based numbers available in FY2021. The additional numbers are expected to benefit those who fall under EB-1 China, EB-1 India and EB-3 Worldwide.

While these additional numbers may not move the needle too much for EB-2/EB-3 China or India, any additional movement is at least a positive.

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