Department of State Says No More Immigrant Visas Available in July
07/02/2007

The U.S. Department of State (DOS) advised today that, effective July 2, 2007, there are no longer any immigrant visa numbers available in any employment-based category—including First (EB-1), Second (EB-2), and Third (EB-3) preference categories. The full text of the DOS announcement is at: http://travel.state.gov/visa/frvi/bulletin/bulletin_3263.html.

DOS had previously announced that all employmentbased categories were “current” for the month of July, and as a result most green card applicants who had been awaiting a visa number were in the process of preparing to file their I-485 adjustment of status applications during July 2007. Given this recent DOS announcement, it appears unlikely that the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (CIS) will accept any employmentbased I-485 cases.

Foreign national employees who were in the process of preparing documents, obtaining medical examinations, or arranging to sign documents should refrain from making such arrangements, as their I-485 cases cannot be filed at this time. It may be possible to file the I-485 when the employee’s priority date again becomes current—an event unlikely to happen prior to October 1, 2007, which is the start of the government’s new fiscal year.

This is an unfortunate, unprecedented turn of events that caps a season of distressing and sometimes confusing business immigration developments—including the H-1B cap fiasco, the suspension of premium processing for I-140 filings, the elimination of labor certification substitution, the imposition of expiration dates for labor certifications, and our government’s inability to pass much-needed comprehensive immigration reform.

If you have any questions concerning this One Minute Memo®, please contact the Seyfarth Shaw LLP attorney with whom you work or any Immigration attorney on our website.

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