July 2017 Visa Bulletin Brings EB-3 Relief For Some, Pain For Others

The State Department has released the July 2017 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.

As predicted last month, continued heavy demand has caused the State Department to retrogress the EB-3 category for Chinese nationals. As of July 1, 2017, the “Final Action Dates” in the EB-3 category for nationals of China will retrogress to January 1, 2012. The State Department expects that the EB-3 China “Final Action Date” will return to October 1, 2014, in October when fiscal year 2018 visas may be issued.

On the bright side, there will be rather substantial forward movement in the employment-based “Final Action Dates” in the EB-3 category for nationals of all other countries, highlighted by a nine month advance to February 15, 2006, for nationals of India, and a one year advance to May 15, 2014, for nationals of the Philippines.

In addition, most of the “Final Action Dates” in the family-based categories will advance at least a few weeks.
 
There is also some advancement in the employment-based “Dates for Filing,” specifically, EB-3 India will advance six months to October 1, 2006, and EB-3 Philippines will advance one year to July 1, 2015. In the family-based categories, the “Dates for Filing” will not advance in June.

As a reminder, the “Dates for Filing Applications” are valid only for consular processing immigrant visa applications. USCIS  makes a separate determination whether to allow the filing of AOS applications under the “Dates for Filing” chart or the “Final Action Dates” chart in the visa bulletin. USCIS has determined that the “Final Action Dates” chart must be used for both family-based and employment-based adjustment of status filings in July 2017.

In his monthly “check in” with the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA), the State Department’s Charles Oppenheim provided the following look at what is likely to happen over the next few months:

• The EB-1 retrogression for India and China will likely hold through September before becoming current again in October.
• Although EB-2 Worldwide remained current in July, a cut-off will be imposed in August, but the category will become current again in October.
• EB-2 India will continue to advance slowly through September.
• EB-3 India is expected to continue to advance.

You can view the visa bulletin in its entirety below. Please contact us with any questions.