The U.S. State Department announced that all available visas for the Employment-Based Third Preference (EB-3), Other Workers (EW), and Employment-Based Fifth Preference categories have been issued for fiscal year (FY) 2024.
Understanding the Visa Categories
The EB-3 visa category is a type of employment-based immigrant visa that allows U.S. employers to sponsor foreign workers for permanent residence. It is divided into three subcategories:
- Skilled workers: Those whose jobs require at least two years of experience or training
- Professionals: Those whose jobs require at least a U.S. bachelor’s degree or its foreign equivalent
- Unskilled workers (referred to as “other workers”): Those whose jobs require less than two years of experience or training
These visas are crucial for industries facing labor shortages, such as healthcare, where demand for skilled and unskilled workers often exceeds the domestic supply. By allowing foreign workers to fill these roles, the EB-3 and EW visa categories help support these industries and contribute to the overall U.S. economy.
The EB-5 is an immigrant visa that allows foreign investors to obtain a green card by investing a minimum amount in a U.S. business that creates or preserves at least 10 full-time jobs for U.S. workers.
Annual Limits and Their Impact
The Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) imposes a strict annual limit on the number of employment-based immigrant visas that can be issued. Specifically, INA allocates 28.6% of the worldwide employment-based visa limit to the EB-3 category each fiscal year. Within this allocation, no more than 10,000 visas are available for the EW category. INA allocates 7.1% of the total number of employment-based visas to the EB-5 category.
For FY 2024, these limits have already been reached. U.S. embassies and consulates worldwide will not issue any more visas in these categories until the start of the new fiscal year on October 1, 2024. This pause may affect employers and workers who were in the process of applying or planning to apply for these visas, as they will need to wait until the next fiscal year to continue their applications.
What Employers and Workers Should Know
The early exhaustion of EB-3 and EW visas for FY 2024 highlights the high demand for these categories, particularly as the U.S. economy continues to rely on foreign workers to fill critical roles. Employers who rely on these visas to bring in essential talent should be aware of the timing and limitations imposed by the annual cap.
For both workers and employers, understanding these visa caps is important for planning. Employers should coordinate closely with their legal teams and immigration counsel to navigate the timing of visa applications and ensure that they are prepared to act promptly when the new fiscal year begins. Workers, on the other hand, should stay informed about the status of their applications and maintain communication with their employers to manage expectations and plan accordingly.
Looking Ahead
The start of FY 2025 is less than two months away. On October 1, the annual limits for these visas will reset, allowing embassies and consulates to resume processing visas in these categories. Employers and workers should be ready to move forward with their applications as soon as the new fiscal year begins to beat the rush of applicants.