April 2016 Visa Bulletin Sees Progress Slow as Fiscal Year Advances

The State Department has released the April 2016 Visa Bulletin listing the priority dates eligible for “Application Final Action,” i.e. when an I-485 adjustment of status (AOS) application may be approved or an immigrant visa (IV) issued, and the priority dates eligible for “Filing Applications,” i.e. when an AOS or IV application may be filed.

In April, the “Application Final Action Dates” will move forward in most categories. In the family-based preference categories, with the exception of the F2B category for nationals of Mexico, the “Application Final Action Dates” will advance at least one week in each category. However, as we pass the halfway point off the 2016 fiscal year, we see the pace of advancement slow to a few weeks at most, with no dates moving ahead by several months as has been the case in the recent past.  In addition, the “Dates for Filing” in the family-based categories again will remain stagnant in April, the third consecutive month with no movement.

In the employment-based preference categories, we see a similarly restrained pace of advancement in the “Application Final Action Dates.” EB-1 and EB-2 for most countries will remain current, and all other categories will advance in minimal amounts. The EB-3 cutoff remains ahead of the EB-2 cutoff for nationals of China. 

Finally, there is no advance at all in the “Dates for Filing,” which at this point affects only nationals of India, China, and the Philippines since all categories are current for all other countries.

As a reminder, the “Dates for Filing Applications” are valid only for consular processing immigrant visa applications. USCIS will make a separate determination whether to allow the filing of AOS applications under the “Dates for Filing” chart in the visa bulletin. If so, USCIS will post the current “Dates for Filing Applications” charts on its website. At the time of this post, USCIS has not made any determination with regard to the April 2016 Visa Bulletin.
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You can view the visa bulletin in its entirety below. Please contact us with any questions.