The USCIS States The Advanced EB-2 Category Offers A Greater Number Of Employment-Based PR

The USCIS has indicated that there are an ‘exceptionally high number’ of employment based green cards available in the 1st preference category (EB-1 or priority worker category) and in the 2nd preference category (EB-2 or professionals with advanced degrees or exceptional ability category), during the fiscal year (October 2021-September 2022).

USCIS advises green card applicants to consider applying under the EB-1 or EB-2 categories if eligible and to seek a transfer of underlying basis (from EB-3) when possible. A 'transfer of underlying basis' refers to a process by which USCIS reclassifies pending green card applications from one category to another, e.g. from EB-3 to EB-2.

Because this limit includes all unused family-sponsored visa numbers from fiscal year 2021, which was about 140,000, the overall employment-based annual limit for fiscal year 2022 is about twice as high as usual.

The immigration agency adds that these excess numbers cannot be made available to applicants in the 3rd employment based preference category because, given the significant number of non-citizens awaiting visas in the 2nd employment based preference category, these visas are required by statute to be used for the second preference category.