It has been confirmed that all employment-based visas for the First and Second Preference (EB1 and EB2) categories have been exhausted as of 09/06/2022 for this fiscal year. Visa numbers have been used up not just for India, but for all countries.
Where is the source of this information? It came from a Declaration by Andrew Parker, Branch Chief of the Residence and Admissibility Branch (RAB) of USCIS. The Declaration was filed with a Federal District Court in Seattle, Washington on 09/06/2022. According to Mr. Parker:
"USCIS notes that as of September 6, 2022, there are no visas remaining for applicants from any country of chargeability in EB1 or EB2. Applicants chargeable to India in the EB2 category received at least 2,786 visas between September 1, 2022, and September 6, 2022. "
The Declaration was filed under oath as part of an ongoing litigation in a case filed by Pritish Madhavan and other plaintiffs against USCIS and DOS. Hence, its information is inherently reliable.
Our office has also received other anecdote accounts and case information from different sources confirming the truth of this development. It should not come as a surprise, as the State Department has already predicted it's happening in the September Visa Bulletin.
Still, it is unfortunate for those applicants who have missed the boat, some of them have been waiting for many years for their green card. The silver lining is that they should be in line for the new batch of visa numbers to be issued in the next fiscal year, starting on October 1st. We hope that they will receive their green cards very soon.
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