Numerical Limits on Employment-Based Immigration: Analysis of the Per-Country Ceilings

Ruth Ellen Wasem
Specialist in Immigration Policy

The Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) specifies a complex set of numerical limits and preference categories that include economic priorities among the criteria for admission. The INA allocates 140,000 visas annually for employment-based legal permanent residents (LPRs), and they were 14.2% of the total 1.0 million LPRs in FY2010. The INA further specifies that each year, countries are held to a numerical limit of 7% of the worldwide level of U.S. immigrant admissions, known as per-country limits or country caps.

Even as U.S. unemployment levels remain high, some employers assert that they continue to need the “best and the brightest” workers, regardless of their country of birth, to remain competitive in a worldwide market and to keep their firms in the United States. While support for the option of increasing employment-based immigration may be dampened by economic conditions, proponents argue it is an essential ingredient for economic growth. Those opposing increases in employment-based LPRs assert that there is no compelling evidence of labor shortages and cite the rate of unemployment across various occupations and labor markets.

With this economic and political backdrop, the option of lifting the per-country caps on employment-based LPRs has become increasingly popular. Some theorize that the elimination of the per-country caps would increase the flow of high-skilled immigrants without increasing the total annual admission of employment-based LPRs. The presumption is that many high-skilled people (proponents cite those from India and China, in particular) would then move closer to the head of the line to become LPRs.

To explore this policy option, analyses of approved pending employment-based petitions are performed on two different sets of data: approved pending cases with the Department of State National Visa Center, and approved pending cases with U.S. Citizenship and Immigrant Services (USCIS). The overwhelming number of approved employment-based LPR visas pending at the National Visa Center at the close of FY2010 were those of professional and skilled workers— 102,395. There were also 16,788 approved visas pending for unskilled workers. In terms of those with advanced degrees, another 6,738 visas were pending. There were also 2,961 approved visas pending in the “extraordinary” category. In terms of the USCIS data, most of the approved I-485 petitions pending are professional, skilled, and unskilled workers (114,442). There were 7,545 approved I-485 petitions pending in the “extraordinary” category and 45,573 approved I-485 petitions pending in the “advanced degree” category. The extent that these two sets of data overlap—and thus may be counting the same petitions twice—is not known, but substantial duplication is presumed to exist.

The top four countries in both the National Visa Center and USCIS data sets are (in rank order) India, the Philippines, the Peoples’ Republic of China, and Mexico. The data analyses suggest that the vast number of Indians are waiting to adjust status in the United States, while the vast number of Filipinos are waiting to immigrate from abroad. Those with approved pending cases from China seem to be more evenly split among new arrivals and those seeking to adjust status.

Some argue that the per-country ceilings are arbitrary and observe that employability has nothing to do with country of birth. Others maintain that the statutory per-country ceilings restrain the dominance of high-demand countries and preserve the diversity of the immigrant flows. Legislation to revise the per-country ceilings on LPRs passed the House (H.R. 3012) on November 29, 2011.


Date of Report: December 6, 2011
Number of Pages: 31
Order Number: R42048
Price: $29.95

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