Annual Limits Reached in the EB-3, EW, and EB-5 Unreserved Categories

 The State Department announced that all available immigrant visas (“green cards”) in the Employment-Based Third Preference (EB-3) and Other Workers (EW) and Employment-Based Fifth Preference (EB-5) unreserved categories for fiscal year 2024 (FY 2024) have been issued. 

Since all available EB-3, EW, and EB-5 unreserved visas for FY 2024 have been used, embassies and consulates may not issue visas in these categories for the remainder of the fiscal year, which ends on September 30, 2024. The annual limits will reset with the start of the new fiscal year (FY 2025) on October 1, 2024. At that point, embassies and consulates may resume issuing immigrant visas in these categories to qualified applicants.

For immigrant visa applicants who have been scheduled for August or September interviews at U.S. embassies and consulates, they will not be impacted and should still receive their visas because the State Department has allocated visa numbers for them when it set the final action dates for these months. 

However, for pending Adjustment of Status (AOS) applicants in U.S., USCIS can only request a visa number after all processing is complete.  Therefore, since the annual limits have been reached, no visa numbers will be available until FY 2025 begins on October 1, 2024. 

Eligible AOS applicants whose priority dates are current under Visa Bulletin for August and September can still file their cases with USCIS.