Brian S. Weiss Immigration Law Blog on Lawyers.com

The United States Department of State (DOS) recently released their monthly visa bulletin for January, 2011. This visa bulletin is used by the United States Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) and the DOS to indicate which foreign nationals are eligible to apply for a green card or immigrant visa based on their “place in line” with the immigration service. As indicated in this bulletin, the employment-based third preference category (EB-3), used by those classified as “professionals,” “skilled workers,” or “other workers,” remains severely retrogressed for nationals of all countries. This has occurred despite the enactment of PERM (Program Electronic Review Management System) labor certification processing by the Department of Labor (DOL) on March 28, 2005 that was supposed to help streamline the entire employment-based green card process. In fact, the world-wide quota for January, 2011 provides a cut-off date of March 22, 2005; six days prior to the first date PERM applications were accepted.

Why has the entire EB-3 category seen a significant retrogression? In my opinion, this backlog can be attributed to the “perfect storm” of factors, including the elimination of long-pending labor certifications by the DOL’s Backlog Elimination Centers prior to PERM (many of which were filed following the enactment of the most recent legislation regarding section 245(i) of the Act), the quicker adjudication of labor certifications under PERM, the July 2007 visa bulletin which provided an opportunity for most EB-3 applicants to file for adjustment of status, and the re-inclusion of many Schedule A occupations, especially nurses, in the overall EB-3 IV count. Further, the fact that family members, including those that are currently living abroad who are following-to-join their family members who have already received lawful permanent resident status in the U.S., are counted when determining the annual quotas has continued to slow the employment-based immigration process, especially within the EB-3 category.

Based upon the continued high demand for immigrant visa numbers under the EB-3 and the limited immigrant visa numbers available, it appears the EB-3 category will continue to see a backlog in visa availability for the foreseeable future.

This article has been provided courtesy of the NY immigration law attorneys at Garganigo, Goldsmith & Weiss, (646) 233-2774, www.ggw.com.