I got this from somewhere in the portal...
Basically, as the USCIS and DOL have improved processing and have issued labor certification and visa petition approvals, and the USCIS has approved adjustment of status applications and the DOS has issued visas through consular processing, the number of EB immigrant visas available has been exhausted. Moreover, the AC21 “carryover” visas, numbering well over 100,000, unused in prior years have been nearly completely exhausted, and fewer unused family-based immigrant visas are available for employment-based cases.
The State Department has provided AILA with some key statistical data to inform attorneys and their clients in planning for the future. The reduction in the number of visas available to employment-based immigrant visa applicants is startling:
FY 2005--249,000 (attributable to AC21 carryover and family “spillover”)
FY 2006--156,000 (estimate --the actual number may be as much as 6,000 fewer)
FY 2007--148,000
This represents a 40% reduction in EB numbers from FY 2005 to FY 2006, alone, and a further reduction in 2007.
With the exception of India and China, worldwide EB-2 numbers are expected to remain current at least through the first quarter of fiscal year 2006 (until 12/31/05). However, numbers in the EB-2 category may retrogress during the second quarter of fiscal year 2006. And, there is a possibility that there will be a cut-off date during the third or fourth quarter of fiscal year 2006. As USCIS and DOL clear their EB-2 backlogs, the question of the need for a worldwide EB-2 cut-off may be answered. A similar slow advance is expected in the EB-3 category worldwide, and beginning only in the second quarter of FY 2006.
Because of the exhaustion of AC21 “carryover” visas, the per-country limit for visas in the employment-based categories is similarly reduced. While India used 45,000 EB immigrant visas in all of the employment-based visa categories last year (again due to the extra numbers from AC21 carryover and unused family-based visas), for this year, the per-country limit in all EB categories will only be 10,700, and of that 10,700, the number available per-country in the EB-1, EB-2 and EB-3 categories is projected to only be 9,180, and may be slightly lower.
For more read : http://www.durrani.com/newsite/news_items/nactive_disp.asp?ID=1352
Question : what is this -- AC21 “carryover” visas?
Thanks
Basically, as the USCIS and DOL have improved processing and have issued labor certification and visa petition approvals, and the USCIS has approved adjustment of status applications and the DOS has issued visas through consular processing, the number of EB immigrant visas available has been exhausted. Moreover, the AC21 “carryover” visas, numbering well over 100,000, unused in prior years have been nearly completely exhausted, and fewer unused family-based immigrant visas are available for employment-based cases.
The State Department has provided AILA with some key statistical data to inform attorneys and their clients in planning for the future. The reduction in the number of visas available to employment-based immigrant visa applicants is startling:
FY 2005--249,000 (attributable to AC21 carryover and family “spillover”)
FY 2006--156,000 (estimate --the actual number may be as much as 6,000 fewer)
FY 2007--148,000
This represents a 40% reduction in EB numbers from FY 2005 to FY 2006, alone, and a further reduction in 2007.
With the exception of India and China, worldwide EB-2 numbers are expected to remain current at least through the first quarter of fiscal year 2006 (until 12/31/05). However, numbers in the EB-2 category may retrogress during the second quarter of fiscal year 2006. And, there is a possibility that there will be a cut-off date during the third or fourth quarter of fiscal year 2006. As USCIS and DOL clear their EB-2 backlogs, the question of the need for a worldwide EB-2 cut-off may be answered. A similar slow advance is expected in the EB-3 category worldwide, and beginning only in the second quarter of FY 2006.
Because of the exhaustion of AC21 “carryover” visas, the per-country limit for visas in the employment-based categories is similarly reduced. While India used 45,000 EB immigrant visas in all of the employment-based visa categories last year (again due to the extra numbers from AC21 carryover and unused family-based visas), for this year, the per-country limit in all EB categories will only be 10,700, and of that 10,700, the number available per-country in the EB-1, EB-2 and EB-3 categories is projected to only be 9,180, and may be slightly lower.
For more read : http://www.durrani.com/newsite/news_items/nactive_disp.asp?ID=1352
Question : what is this -- AC21 “carryover” visas?
Thanks