As the government’s Fiscal Year 2022 (“FY 2022) draws to a close this coming September 30th, US Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) has assured the public it is “dedicated to ensuring we use as many available employment-based visas as possible in FY 2022.” This is good news as approximately 66,500 employment-based green cards were not used in FY 2021.

The Department of State (“DOS”) determined the FY 2022 employment-based annual limits is 281,507, which is more than double the typical annual total of 140,000. The substantial increase in available visa numbers in FY 2022 is primarily a result of COVID related closures and restrictions that left approximately 140,000 family-based visa numbers unused for FY2021. These unused family-based visa numbers were rolled over to FY 2022’s employment-based visa numbers.

To ensure the available visa numbers for FY 2022 were used, USCIS issued an alert in February of this year urging eligible adjustment of status applicants to consider filing a request to transfer the underlying basis of their adjustment of status application to the first (priority workers) or second (noncitizens in professions with advanced degrees or with exceptional ability) employment-based preference categories, due of the exceptionally high number of employment-based immigrant visas available. The Service also encouraged employment-based green card applicants with approved I-140 petitions, who did not submit valid Form I-693, Report of Medical Examination and Vaccination, to visit a civil surgeon and have a valid Form I-693 ready before September 30, 2022, to submit when USCIS sent a request.

As of August 31, 2022, USCIS and DOS reported having used 263,510 employment-based immigrant visas, leaving a surplus of 17,997 to be used by September 30th. USCIS Director Ur Jaddou said in an interview “that she made not wasting a single employment-based green card one of her priorities for the year, and changed several of the agency’s processes to get it done.” For the sake of those who shave sacrificed visiting family in their homelands for years for the sake of not abandoning their green card process, we hope the Service maintains their commitment to using all of the remaining visa numbers available for FY2022.