Page 38 - The Indian EYE 093022

IMMIGRATION SEPTEMBER 30, 2022 | The Indian Eye 38

Will USCIS Waste Precious

Employment Based Green Cards as

it Announces Push to Use as Many

as Possible by September 30?

CYRUS D. MEHTA which ends on September 30, and USCIS used 175,728 em- If your underlying peti- visa numbers get carried over
2022. It is hoped that USCIS ployment-based immigrant tion is approved and a visa into the employment based
.S. Citizenship and does not waste visa numbers visas through adjustment is available to you, but you preferences, unused employ-
Immigration Ser- as it did at the end of FY of status, more than 52% know that your previously ment visa numbers do not
Uvices (USCIS) an- 2021. higher than the average be- filed Form I-485 does not go back into the family visa
nounced that the overall USCIS explained that fore the pandemic. Despite have a valid Form I-693, Re- pool. When backlogged ben-
employment-based annual the annual limit for employ- agency efforts, 66,781 visas port of Medical Examination eficiaries in the employment
limit for immigrant visas in ment-based immigrant visa went unused at the end of and Vaccination Record, we second and third preferences
fiscal year (FY) 2022 is ap- use in FY 2021 was 262,288, FY 2021, USCIS said. DOS recommend you visit a civ- have been waiting for over a
proximately twice as high as nearly double the typical an- has determined that the FY il surgeon and have a valid decade, it is tragic to waste
usual, primarily due to con- nual total. Overall, USCIS 2022 employment-based an- Form I-693 on hand when even a single visa! It is un-
sular closures abroad during and the Department of State nual limit is 281,507 (slightly we send the request to you. certain regarding how many
the COVID-19 pandemic. (DOS) combined to use more than double the typical This is particularly import- unused family visas get car-
USCIS said it is “dedicated 195,507 employment-based annual total) due to unused ant if you recently received ried over into the employ-
to ensuring we use as many immigrant visas in FY 2021. family-based immigrant visa a notice that your applica- ment based preferences in
available employment-based DOS issued 19,779 employ- numbers from FY 2021 being tion was transferred from a FY 2023. If the carry over
visas as possible in FY 2022,” ment-based immigrant visas, allocated to the current fiscal USCIS service center to a from family to employment
year’s available employ- USCIS field office and you is not as large as FY 2022,
ment-based green cards. know your application does then those who could not use
Through July 31, 2022, not have a valid Form I-693. a visa number in FFY 2022
the two agencies have If you are a noncitizen with may not be able to immedi-
combined to use 210,593 pending adjustment of sta- ately obtain a visa number in
employment-based im- tus applications, do not send FY 2023 despite waiting for
migrant visas (FY 2022 an unsolicited Form I-693 so long. USCIS should not
data is preliminary and to us…. The “60-day rule,” waste a single visa number
subject to change). US- which has been temporari- on September 30!
CIS approved more ly waived, does not apply to Details: “Fiscal Year 2022 Em-
than 10,000 employ- Forms I-693 signed by the ployment-Based Adjustment of
ment-based adjustment civil surgeon after you have Status FAQs,” USCIS, updated
of status applications filed Form I-485. Aug. 26, 2022, https://www.uscis.
in the week ending Au- Last year 66,781 employ- gov/green-card/green-card-pro-
gust 14, 2022, and DOS ment-based visas went un- cesses-and-procedures/fiscal-
continues its high rate used at the end of FY 2021. year-2022-employment-based-
of visa issuance as well, If the visas go unused they adjustment-of-status-faqs
USCIS noted. get completely wasted and (This blog is for informational
Among other things, cannot get carried over into purposes and should not be
USCIS noted (emphasis next year’s pool of visa num- viewed as a substitute for legal
in original): bers. While unused family advice).
_____________________________________________________________________________
m of Cyrus D. Mehta, a graduate of Cambridge University and Columbia Law School, is the Managing Partner of
CYRUS D. MEHTA & PARTNERS PLLC Cyrus D. Mehta & Partners PLLC in New York City. Mr. Mehta is a member of AILA’s Administrative Liti-
gation Task Force; AILA’s EB-5 Committee; former chair of AILA’s Ethics Committee; special counsel on
immigration matters to the Departmental Disciplinary Committee, Appellate Division, First Department, New

York; member of the ABA Commission on Immigration; board member of Volunteers for Legal Services and
board member of New York Immigration Coalition. Mr. Mehta is the former chair of the Board of Trustees

  of the American Immigration Council and former chair of the Committee on Immigration and Nationality
   
­ Law of the New York City Bar Association. He is a frequent speaker and writer on various immigration-related
€
‚  
issues, including on ethics, and is also an adjunct professor of law at Brooklyn Law School, where he teaches
a course entitled Immigration and Work. Mr. Mehta received the AILA 2018 Edith Lowenstein Memorial
Award for advancing the practice of immigration law and the AILA 2011 Michael Maggio Memorial Award
for his outstanding efforts in providing pro bono representation in the immigration field. He has also received
two AILA Presidential Commendations in 2010 and 2016. Mr. Mehta is ranked among the most highly re-
2 6th Floor garded lawyers in North America by Who’s Who Legal – Corporate Immigration Law 2019 and is also ranked

    in Chambers USA and Chambers Global 2019 in immigration law, among other rankings.

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