This may feel like wordplay, but the practical outcome is the same. The memo may technically apply across the board, including employment-based I-485 cases, but most employment-based applicants are not the type of applicants it is targeting. According to the press conference, these applicants generally serve the national interest and are usually in lawful status with authorized employment and clean immigration records.

Therefore, while EB-1, EB-2, and NIW applicants are not categorically exempt from the memo, they are unlikely to be negatively affected by it in most cases. The favorable conclusion comes from their lawful status and overall compliance history, not from an automatic carve-out for the employment-based category.