EB-2 limit is reached for fiscal year 2012

I am sorry to say that the annual limit for employment second-preference green cards (that is, "EB-2 green cards") has been reached.  Anyone with a priority date that is later than the latest cutoff date of August 15, 2007 will have to wait at least until October 1, 2012 to see when their visas might become available. October 1 is the beginning of a new fiscal year for the U.S. government (i.e. fiscal year 2013), and therefore (by the way) it is also the date that new H-1B approvals become available for cap-subject employees.

The May 2012 visa bulletin lists the August 15, 2007 cutoff date for employment second-preference petitions for people born in China, among several other countries.  Because the limit has been reached, future visa bulletins until the end of the fiscal year will continue to show that same date, i.e. there will be no forward progression of cutoff dates as was the case recently.

This situation applies to those seeking a green card as an advanced degree professional, an alien of exceptional ability or who are petitioning for a waiver from job offer on the grounds that their job benefits the national interest (i.e. a national interest waiver), who also were born in China.  The names of countries in the visa bulletin refer to country of BIRTH, not country of citizenship.

This situation stinks, and I feel badly, because I know that those you in this position might have been waiting a long time for your visas to become available.  I hope the situation will improve soon.

Here is a news item from the web site of American Immigration Lawyers Association, AILA:

China-Mainland Born and India EB-2 FY2012 Annual Limit Reached

Cite as "AILA InfoNet Doc. No. 12042360 (posted Apr. 23, 2012)"

AILA has confirmed with the State Department that the annual limit in the EB-2 category for China-mainland born and India has been reached. The State Department notified USCIS on April 11, 2012, that no further visas for those categories would be authorized. This is the “additional corrective action” that was forecast as a possibility in Section D of the May 2012 Visa Bulletin (AILA Doc. No. 12040652). USCIS will continue to accept adjustment applications based upon cut-off dates published in the April and May Visa Bulletins. However, requests from USCIS service centers and field offices for visas in the EB-2 category aliens chargeable to China-mainland born or India will be retained by DOS for authorization in FY2013, beginning on October 1, 2012.