What is FB to EB Spillover? "FB to EB Spillover" refers to the transfer of unused family-based (FB) green cards to the employment-based (EB) category in the following year. For example, if 20,000 family-based green cards are not used during a fiscal year, that number gets “spilled over” to the EB category for the next fiscal year.

That’s the reason every year, employment-based green card applicants wait anxiously for one key number — the total number of unused FB green cards. And in 2025, there’s still some hope.

On Jan 24, 2025, USCIS officially announced: "The employment-based (EB) annual limit for fiscal year (FY) 2025 will be higher than was typical before the pandemic, though lower than in FY 2021-2024. We are dedicated to using as many available employment-based visas as possible in FY 2025, which ends on Sept. 30, 2025". — reference

However, no official numbers were disclosed.

Multiple immigration law firms have estimated that, due to unused family-based (FB) visas rolling over, the EB visa cap for 2025 could reach at least 165,000, up from the standard 140,000.

That’s an additional 25,000 visas. It may not sound huge at first, but this kind of spillover could make a real difference—especially for countries like India and China, where green card backlogs have been growing for decades.

But when we dug deeper into the numbers—and our analysis suggested that the actual spillover might be even higher than 25,000 if the numbers provided on DHS official websites are accurate.

How We Calculated the 2025 FB to EB Spillover?

We calculated the FB to EB green card spillover estimates on real data published by Department of Homeland Security. Each year, any unused family-sponsored (FB) green cards roll over to the employment-based (EB) categories in the next fiscal year.

The logic is simple: if FB doesn’t use up its annual quota of 226K, those leftover numbers get added to the EB cap of 140K. We have seen this trend matching with spillover to EB in the past and expect the similar pattern for the year 2025.

Let’s break down how this has worked over the last few years and how we arrived at our 60,000 spillover estimate for 2025.

🦠 2021 Spillover: Pandemic Year

COVID severely disrupted consular processing in 2021. Only 65,690 FB green cards were issued, out of a cap of 226,000. That left a massive ~150,000 unused visas to spillover into EB for FY 2022, making 2022’s EB cap ~290,000 (140k base + 150k spillover). Breakdown by quarter (2021):

• 2021 Q1: 6,821, Q2: 6,951, Q3: 18,352, Q4: 33,566

• Total FB issued: 65,690 (AOS + NVC)

• Spillover to EB from 2021: ~150,000

• Expected EB Cap 2022: 140,000 base + 150,000 spillover = ~290,000

• Actual EB Cap 2022: 281,000

📈 2022: Rebound but Still a Big Spillover

In 2022, FB numbers rebounded but still fell short. USCIS issued 165,642 FB green cards, leaving around 60,000 unused. These rolled over into EB for FY 2023, boosting the cap to approximately 200,000 (140k base + ~60k spillover). Breakdown by quarter (2022):

• Q1: 44,174, Q2: 38,118, Q3: 38,736, Q4: 44,614

• Total FB issued: 165,642 (AOS + NVC)

• Spillover to EB from 2022: ~60,000

• Expected EB Cap 2023: 140,000 base + 60,000 spillover = ~200,000

• Actual EB Cap 2023: 197,000

📉 2023 Spillover: Backlogs and Processing Limits

In 2023, USCIS used 202,550 FB visas, leaving around 23,000 unused, which spilled over into EB for 2024. This made 2024’s EB cap around 163,000. Breakdown by quarter (2023):

• Q1: 50,640, Q2: 49,600, Q3: 56,080, Q4: 46,230

• Total FB issued: 202,550 (AOS + NVC)

• Spillover to EB from 2023: ~23,000

• Expected EB Cap 2024: 140,000 base + 23,000 spillover = ~163,000

• Actual EB Cap 2024: 161,000

📌 2024: Estimated Spillover for 2025 (Q4 Estimated)

As of June 02, 2025: we have the first three quarters from 2024:

• Q1: 34,110, Q2: 31,850, Q3: 45,240

• Q4 (estimated): ~55,400 (based on past averages, as official data from DHS is not yet released)

• Total FB issued: 166,600 (AOS + NVC)

• Spillover to EB from 2024: ~60,000

• Expected EB Cap 2025: 140,000 base + 60,000 spillover = ~200,000

• Actual EB Cap 2025: Yet to be officially confirmed

So far, the numbers suggest that around 60,000 FB visas may spill over into the EB category for FY 2025. However, since Q4 data is still estimated, the final spillover could change. If Q4 ends up being higher than expected, the EB cap may come down slightly from this estimate. We'll have to wait for DHS to release the official year-end numbers to confirm.

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🟢 Finalized Spillover to EB for FY 2025 (Q4 Confirmed)

As of Jun 24, 2025: The official Q4 numbers are in: 73,210 family-based (FB) visas were issued in Q4 — significantly higher than the earlier estimate of ~55,400. The full quarterly breakdown for FY 2024 is now:

• Q1: 34,130, Q2: 32,000, Q3: 45,320, Q4: 73,210

• Total FB issued: 184,660 (AOS + NVC)

• This means 41,340 FB visas went unused in FY 2024 and should spill over into the EB category for FY 2025.

• Expected EB Cap for FY 2025 = 140,000 base + 41,340 spillover = ~181,340

• Actual EB Cap 2025 = Still pending USCIS confirmation

The final spillover is lower than originally projected, due to unexpectedly high FB usage in Q4 — especially compared to prior years. Still, a spillover of over 41,000 is a strong boost for the EB categories going into FY 2025.

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Impact of FB to EB Spillover in 2025

For countries that are always oversubscribed—India and China, mainly—this FB to EB spillover is often the only lifeline to see any real forward movement in final action dates. Without it, progress is painfully slow.

This doesn’t benefit all EB categories, but mostly EB1—and luckily, as of now, the "Rest of the World" EB1 category is current, which means the majority of the spillover will directly benefit India and China, EB1 category.

As per the Jan 03, 2025 USCIS immigration data release, there are about 11,158 pending Adjustment of Status cases for India EB1 filed until Dec 2022. This figure excludes applicants waiting under NVC processing or those porting from EB2 to EB1. So realistically, we need at least this many EB1 visas to push India’s EB1 dates past December 2022.

With an estimated 60K extra visas flowing into the EB category in FY 2025, EB1 India and EB1 China will be the primary beneficiaries. And if—by some chance—EB1 doesn't consume all of it, the remainder would flow into EB2.

But realistically, with so many pending EB1 cases, EB2 might not see any of that spillover. If these estimates really hold, we could potentially see EB1 India move really fast in the upcoming visa bulletins.

But don’t hold your breath for that.

You can see where this is going. Even with extra spillover, it’s possible EB1 alone will consume the entire spillover before anything reaches EB2. And EB3? Not even in the picture.

FB to EB Spillover History Recap

Let’s take a step back and look at how FB to EB spillover has worked in recent years:

• 2022: ~281,000 total EB visas (due to massive FB spillover from pandemic closures)

• 2023: ~197,000

• 2024: ~161,000

• 2025: ~200,000? (Estimated — based on ~60K unused FB visas, which seems high, but that's what numbers tell)

The pandemic years were an outlier, leading to record-breaking spillovers into the EB system. While things are now settling closer to normal levels, even a spillover of 60,000+ visas can make a real difference—especially if you’ve been stuck in the backlog for years.

When is FB to EB Spillover Typically Announced?

Historically, the final EB visa numbers are released shortly after the fiscal year ends (September 30), and we usually see detailed announcements by January or February of the following year.

While USCIS hasn’t published the exact spillover count for FY2025 yet, they did confirm back in January that the employment-based visa limit would be higher than the pre-pandemic norm—they just didn’t give a specific number.

So, while there’s no official confirmation yet, all signs point to a total EB cap of around 200,000 for FY2025, based on current estimates. That’s the number we’re betting on.

Final Thoughts

The 2025 spillover from FB to EB is shaping up to be a rare and valuable window for Indian and Chinese green card applicants—especially in the EB1 category. But the demand is so high, even this 60,000 boost may barely scratch the surface.

Still, any forward movement is welcome in a system where some applicants wait 10, 15, or even 20 years. Let’s hope the official numbers arrive soon—and bring some long-overdue relief.

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