November 2017 Visa Bulletin: Small, Steady Advances in Final Action Dates

The State Department has released the November 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.

There again will be small but consistent advances in the “Application Final Action Dates” in most of the family-based categories. Each of the family-based categories will advance between one week and two months except for the first-preference (F1) and second preference (F2B) for nationals of the Philippines.

In the “Application Final Action Dates” for the employment-based categories, the EB-1 category remains current for all countries after becoming current across the board in October. There will be some advancement in the other categories of between three weeks (EB-2 India) and six weeks (EB-3 Philippines), although EB-3 India will remain at October 15, 2006. The priority dates in EB-2 and EB-3 for China each will advance approximately one month.

There will be no movement in the “Dates for Filing” in the either the family-based or employment-based categories.

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 or the “Application Final Action Dates” chart in the visa bulletin. USCIS has determined that applicants must use the Dates for Filing chart for family-based cases and the Final Action Dates chart for employment-based cases in November 2017.
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You can view the visa bulletin in its entirety below. Please contact us with any questions