We have some important updates to the visa bulletin for this month. For a quick refresh on how best to use and understand the visa bulletin – check out our visa bulletin primer.  For the rest of our many clients who are now experts at reading the bulletin, you likely know that the government has made a big effort over the past year to use all available visa numbers.  Now that the new fiscal year has begun, we will see some important changes in visa availability.

  • October 2022 Visa Bulletin: Priority dates will move backwards for EB-2 Indian-born applicants. Although this is unfortunate, it is not surprising given the large number of green card applications filed during the last year and the significant backlog USCIS is still working through.
  • The Department of Statue currently estimates that the annual limit for employment-based visas during the next year will be approximately 200,000. This is less than the limit from last year, but is still many more available visas than the usual amount. This means that we expect to continue to see USCIS quickly approve employment-based green cards, in order to use all available visa numbers. We may also see a continued improvement in the visa bulletin as the year goes on.

As always, we will keep an eye on the visa bulletin and let our clients know of any changes that might impact their immigration status.