August 2015 Visa Bulletin Shows Mostly Slow and Steady Advances

The Department of State has released the August 2015 Visa Bulletin, a monthly report detailing the current cutoff dates for the filing or approval of green card applications in the various U.S. permanent visa categories. A person who is otherwise eligible to apply for or be granted a green card in the U.S., must have a current priority date as specified in the Visa Bulletin.

As in July, the August 2015 Visa Bulletin shows slow forward movement in nearly all categories, although there was major retrogression of priority dates in one category.

As of August 1, 2015, all of the family-based preference categories advance at least a few weeks with the exception of most categories for nationals of the Mexico and the Philippines.

The priority dates in the employment-based third (EB-3) preference for all countries except India, China, and the Philippines advance to a nearly current July 15, 2015. EB-3 India advances four months to June 1, 2004. Nationals of the Philippines get some good news this month as the EB-3 category changes completely unavailable to available for those with priority dates earlier than June 1, 2004.

EB-2 and EB-3 continues to be a juggling act for nationals of China as the EB-3 priority date significantly retrogresses to June 1, 2004, primarily due to heavy demand caused by EB-2 to EB-3 conversions. The employment-based second (EB-2) preference advances to December 15, 2013.

The priority date in the EB-2 category for Indian nationals again holds steady at October 1, 2008. As we explained in our last review of the visa bulletin, worldwide demand in the EB-2 category has exploded in recent months leaving fewer unused visas “falling down” to EB-2 India, and there might not be any further advancement of EB-2 India for the rest of the fiscal year.

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