What the Current Backlog in PERM Labor Certifications,
DOL Prevailing Wage Requests, and Pending and Approved I-140s Means
for Future Visa Bulletin Movement in the EB-2 and EB-3
Categories
The U.S. immigration system's complexity, combined with its
systemic administrative incompetence, opaque release of
information, and the known, massive backlog has profound
consequences on individuals' lives. Worse, however, is the
hidden demand that is not yet reflected in the Department of
State's Visa Bulletin. The reality is that as bad as the July
2023 Visa Bulletin is, it does not reflect the actual reality of
the current wait times, not only for the two high-demand countries
(India and China), but for the Rest of the World (ROW). The
situation for employment-based immigrant is far more apocalyptic
than virtually anyone imagines. Specifically, the Visa Bulletin
does not account for the pending number of PERM labor
certifications at the Department of Labor (DOL), the number
