⏳ EB-3 Other Workers vs EB-3 Skilled - Visa Bulletin Gap Analysis - Rest of World PD Comparison

⏳ **Case Status: Pending** --- The EB-3 Other Workers (EW3) category runs approximately two years behind the standard EB-3 Skilled/Professional category due to a statutory 10,000 visa annual cap. As of September 2026, Rest of World Other Workers is at April 2022 while EB-3 Skilled is at September 2024. Applicants in the Other Workers category who have been tracking EB-3 Skilled dates have been misreading dates that are roughly two years too optimistic. A critical distinction in the visa bulletin is often overlooked: EB-3 Other Workers (EW3) and EB-3 Skilled/Professional are separate rows with separate cutoff dates. As of the September 2026 bulletin, the gap by country is as follows: - Rest of World: Other Workers at April 2022 vs EB-3 at September 2024 (~2.5 year gap) - Mexico: April 2022 vs September 2024 (~2.5 year gap) - Philippines: December 2021 vs August 2023 (~1.7 year gap) - China: May 2019 vs January 2022 (~2.7 year gap) The statutory cap limits Other Workers to no more than 10,000 visas per year globally (~700 per country). Spillover from other EB categories does NOT benefit Other Workers. Recent annual issuance has been approaching the cap (8,894 / 9,315 / 8,724 in the last three fiscal years), meaning the category is now consistently near its ceiling. For a Rest of World priority date of January 2023, the projected base case for visa availability is 2031, with an optimistic scenario of 2029 and a pessimistic scenario of 2038 depending on annual issuance volume. India is a notable exception: the State Department has historically printed identical Final Action Dates for India EB-3 and India Other Workers across all 131 bulletins on record, so Indian nationals in EW3 track with EB-3. --- **[📎 View Original Post](https://www.reddit.com/r/USCIS/comments/1w2thsw/eb3_other_workers_is_running_about_two_years/)** *Source: Reddit EB-3 search* --- *This post was automatically curated from online sources to share real case experiences with the community.*