The U.S. Department of State predicts that heavy demand for immigrant visas this fiscal year will cause additional backlogs in the worldwide (including Mexico and Philippines) employment-based 1st and 3rd preference categories starting in July 2024. For June 2024, the employment-based worldwide, Mexico and Philippines 1st preference categories are current (meaning no waitlist for immigrant visas); while the employment-based worldwide, Mexico and Philippines 3rd preference categories have cut-off dates of November 22, 2022 (meaning that only intending immigrants with a priority date earlier than November 22, 2022, can proceed with their immigrant visa applications). There are at least 140,000 employment-based immigrant visas available each fiscal year. The U.S. Department of State uses complicated statistical modeling to try and allocate all available visas throughout the fiscal year by monitoring usage monthly. If usage is heavy during the fiscal year, there are often backlogs in visa categories over the summer. Once the new fiscal year starts on October 1st and the next round of immigrant visas becomes available, those backlogs often (but not always) clear out.