EB-3 Categories Unavailable Through FY2019

The entire EB-3 category is now unavailable for the rest of fiscal year 2019. Annual limits have been reached on this category and additional numbers for this fiscal year are not available. Additional numbers should become available at the beginning of FY2020. This status includes EB-3 Worldwide, EB-3 China, EB-3 India, EB-3 El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, EB-3 Mexico, EB-3 Philippines, and EB-3 Vietnam.

The entire EB-4 and EB-4 Religious Workers categories are also unavailable, along with EB-1 India. EB-1 China is still available, but the final action date retrogressed 2.5 years.

What does this mean for applicants?

AILA recommends that applicants still appear for their scheduled interviews, but warns that officers may decide not to proceed with interviews or reschedule them. According to AILA, applicants may continue filing applications to adjust their status according to the dates in the September 2019 Visa Bulletin. DOS is unlikely to revise the September 2019 Visa Bulletin.

For More Information:

View the September Visa Bulletin here and our blog post about it here.

Read our recent blog post about the AILA Check-in with Charlie Oppenheim in August regarding family and employment based final action dates and visa availability.

This blog post does not serve as legal advice and does not establish any client-attorney privilege. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact our legal team directly.

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This information comes from a news release from the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA Doc. No. 19081690).