- What did the Bureau of Consular Affairs
say about the movement of family-sponsored
and employment-based visas in 2022?
The good news is that USCIS is doing all that it can
to make use of the available numbers and,
is on track to approve
more adjustment of status applications next month
than in any other month since 2005.
The bad news is, that there will likely be no movement
in any appointment dates at the start of the year.
And no movement in family dates for the coming 3-6 months,
with the few exceptions that we will discuss right now.
For those who don't know,
Charlie Oppenheim, who is the Chief of Visa Control
for the Department of State,
held a livestream to address the visa backlog
and set expectations for fiscal year 2022.
He said,
that with the exception of Mexico and the Philippines,
he does not expect family dates to advance
in the first 3-6 months.
And each of the family preference categories
have advanced to the point
where there are enough qualified applicants
to use all of the available numbers
under the next fiscal year's limits.
For employment-based visas,
USCIS has scheduled interviews in September
for more than 30,000 applicants,
in an attempt to use the surplus numbers
before the end of 2021, which is highly unlikely.
The employment limit for fiscal year 2021
was 65% higher than the previous year but,
there has been no increase in staff to speed up processing
resulting in a surplus of employment numbers
that will go unused.
Charlie said that, as of today, all the employment dates
have been advanced as far as possible.
And there will not likely be any movement
in the month of October.
And, unfortunately, only a fraction of those
with final action dates for September
will have their cases adjudicated by the end of the month.
Charlie emphasized that he has been revamping the dates
as though the pandemic never occurred
trying to maximize the numbers based on the annual limits.
In most years, USCIS and the Consular Bureau
are able to use around 98% of the annual limits.
So they're efficient at what they do.
This is not a normal year though
and they cannot control the conditions around the world
that impacts processing.
So, just like the pandemic has affected your ability
to go to a restaurant or to the gym,
it has also affected the reopening of consular posts
around the world and the consequent visa interviews.
I conducted a poll asking
which type of visas everyone is interested in.
And it sounds like most of you are waiting on
family sponsored green cards.
If you are waiting for a priority date to become current,
leave me a comment below
and let me know which category you're waiting on.
In addition to this news, I wanted to quickly mention
that on Tuesday, August 24th,
the House of Representatives passed the $3.5 trillion budget
which includes a pathway to citizenship
for eligible immigrants.
As you might recall from my previous video,
the resolution includes $107 billion
to provide legal permanent status
to certain undocumented immigrants.
We don't know yet who will be eligible,
but there is speculation that this will include
undocumented children, TPS holders,
farm workers, and Dreamers.
If all Senate Democrats can agree on the bill,
then they will be able to pass it
without Republican support.
Lawmakers have until September 15th
to submit their detailed legislation,
at which point, we will know more details.
By the way, it took me a while to summarize
all these important immigration points.
So, please take a second to "like" this video
and support the growth of my channel.
For those of you who want to hear more about Charlie,
I will leave a link in the description below
for his livestream.
I will also continue to bring you updates
on the visa bulletin and important immigration news.
So, if you haven't yet subscribed,
then be sure to do so next.
And, if you haven't yet seen this video,
click here to watch it. I'll see you there!