How chargeability works
United States employment-based immigrant visas are allocated by category and by country of chargeability, normally the applicant's country of birth, with a per-country ceiling. Demand from applicants born in mainland China and India exceeds the ceiling in most categories, so a queue forms, tracked monthly in the Department of State's Visa Bulletin by priority date. The same application, filed by a person born elsewhere, is often current immediately. A spouse born in a different country can in some circumstances allow cross-chargeability, which is one of the few mechanisms that shorten the wait.
Why it changes the route
For a Chinese- or Indian-born successor, a plan built on a PERM-based category may mean years in a status that is bound to an employer, limited in duration and, for L-1B, capped at five years. The categories that are less backlogged, EB-1A, EB-1B and EB-1C, and the national interest waiver in EB-2, become the realistic routes, and each has a demanding test. EB-1C, in particular, requires a year of managerial or executive employment abroad: which means the first station must be designed to produce exactly that.
The alternatives
Canada allocates permanent residence by points, not by country of birth. A successor with Canadian work experience can reach permanence in a timeframe measured in months rather than years, and Canadian permanent residence or citizenship then opens its own routes to the United States, including professional categories under the trade agreement. Australia and New Zealand likewise do not rank by country of birth. For some families, the right answer is a second station in Canada and a third, later, in the United States; for others it is to accept that the United States will take longer and to plan the first station so that the EB-1C test is met.
What WG does differently
Country of birth is the second question in a WG assessment, after the activity. The route map that follows is drawn for the person actually in front of us, not for a generic applicant. Families have told us that this was the first time anyone had explained why a cousin's plan, executed to the letter, took three times as long as expected.
Sources & further reading
General information, not an individual eligibility decision or legal, tax or investment advice. The competent authority determines the outcome. WG’s engagement and any regulated professional work are scoped separately.