The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on U.S.
immigration and, particularly, the issuance of immigrant visas,
also known as green cards. During the pandemic, available immigrant
visa slots that had been allocated for the family-based preference
categories went unused. Under the law, they were then carried over
to employment-based preference categories. As a result of slow
adjudications and processing delays by the U.S. Citizenship and
Immigration Services (USCIS), some of these carried over visas went
unused causing an even bigger processing backlog.
Every fiscal year 140,000 employment-based and 226,000
family-based green cards become available. These green cards are
allocated to the various preference categories and individuals born
in no single country may claim more than 7% of the total green
cards available each year. For FY 2022, there are more than 290,000
employment-based green cards be available - how this is
possible?1 The vast majority of
