The U.S. Department of State reports that due to the return of unused July immigrant visa numbers by U.S. consular posts abroad, and the limited amount of pending demand eligible for final processing at consular posts, it has been possible to reestablish cut-off dates in many of the Employment-based (EB) preference categories. Among the highlights of the limited visa availability in several of the employment-based categories are:
- the EB-1 category with priority dates before January 1, 2007 for all countries;
- the EB-2 category for all countries, including Mexico and the Philippines, with priority dates before January 1, 2007, for China with priority dates before January 1, 2006, and for India with priority dates before April 1, 2004; and,
- the EB-3 category, all countries except China, India, and Mexico, which are unavailable, with priority dates before August 1, 2002.