The State Department has released the July 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. Following the massive retrogression of the priority dates in June, there is some slight movement in the “Application Final Action Dates” for both the family and employment-based preference categories. Some of the priority dates in the family-based categories will advance from one to eight weeks, although there is no movement in the third preference (F3) for most countries and no movement in the fourth preference (F4) for China, India, Mexico, and the Philippines. In addition, there is no movement in the family-based categories for Mexico with the exception of a two week advance in the first preference (F1). In the employment-based preference categories, there is no advance in the Final Action Dates for China. The EB-2 priority date for India will advance one month to November 1, 2004, and the EB-3 priority date will advance one month to October 22, 2004. The EB-3 priority date for all other countries will advance slightly, although the Philippines will see a jump ahead of over three months. The news remains grim for the “Dates for Filing” as there is no movement at all in July in any category or for any country. 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 and will post the applicable chart on its website. For July 2016, USCIS has determined that applicants must use the “Application Final Action Dates.” Looking ahead, in a meeting with the American Immigration Lawyers Association, Charles Oppenheim, Chief of the Visa Control and reporting Division at the Department of State, indicated that more priority date retrogressions are expected before September 2016, including the rare establishment of a cutoff date in the EB-2 “worldwide” category and a cutoff date in the EB-1 category for India and China. You can view the visa bulletin in its entirety below. Please contact us with any questions. UPDATE: USCIS has announced that applicants must use the Application Final Action Dates chart in the June 2016 Visa Bulletin for both employment- and family-based filings. The State Department has released the June 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. The big story is the massive retrogression of the “Application Final Action Dates” in the employment-based preference categories for nationals of India and China. The EB-2 priority date for India will roll back over four years to October 1, 2004, although the EB-3 priority date will advance three weeks to September 22, 2004. The State Department expects both EB-2 and EB-3 for Indian nationals to advance slowly for the last three months of the fiscal year. Meanwhile, the long-expected impact of the increased EB-3 demand for nationals of China due to EB-2 to EB-3 downgrades will finally arrive in June. Both the EB-2 and EB-3 categories for Chinese nationals will roll back to January 1, 2010, a retrogression of more than two-and-a-half years and three-and-a-half years, respectively. The State Department does not expect these categories to advance before the end of the fiscal year. The “Application Final Action Dates” for all other countries will remain stuck at February 15, 2016, with the exception of EB-3 for the Philippines, which will advance nearly three months to November 1, 2008. There will be no advance in the “Dates for Filing” for employment-based cases (aside from the EB-3 “Other Worker” category for Chinese nationals), although this affects only nationals of India, China, and the Philippines since all categories are current for all other countries. The family-based categories are not immune to retrogression. As predicted last month, the “Application Final Action Dates” in the fourth preference (F4) category for brothers and sisters of U.S. citizens will move back to January 1, 2003, for Chinese nationals and to January 1, 2001, for Indian nationals. The State Department does not expect any further advancement in these categories for the rest of the fiscal year. The rest of the “Application Final Action Dates” will hold or advance slightly as the as we approach the end of the fiscal year. The “Dates for Filing” in the family-based categories mostly will remain stagnant in June, but the second preference category for spouses and children of permanent residents (F2A) will advance four months to October 15, 2015, for all countries, and there will be some movement in the second preference category for unmarried sons and daughters of permanent residents (F2B) for nationals of Mexico and the Philippines. 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 June 2016 Visa Bulletin. You can view the visa bulletin in its entirety below. Please contact us with any questions. The State Department has released the March 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 March, the “Application Final Action Dates” will move forward in most categories. In the family-based preference categories, again with the exception of the F2B and F4 categories for nationals of Mexico, the “Application Final Action Dates” will advance at least one week in each category, with the largest advancement being five months (November 1, 2003 to April 1, 2004) in the first preference (F1) for nationals of the Philippines. However, the “Dates for Filing” in the family-based categories will remain stagnant in March, the second consecutive month with no movement. In the employment-based preference categories, there will be continued movement in the “Application Final Action Dates.” The EB-3 category again will again advance across the board from a few weeks to up to several months, highlighted by an eight-month jump to June 1, 2013, in EB-3 for nationals of China. This continues the rare situation in which the EB-3 cutoff is ahead of the EB-2 cutoff (August 1, 2012) for nationals of China. The State Department continues to expect many Chinese nationals to take advantage of this by filing new I-140 petitions to “downgrade” to the EB-3 category, but so far, this additional EB-3 demand does not seem to have materialized. Finally, the “Dates for Filing” will advance for all except for nationals of India and the Philippines. The EB-2 filing date for nationals of China will advance six months to June 1, 2013, while the EB-3 filing date will advance 19 months to May 1, 2015. The EB-3 “date for filing” for all other countries not listed separately will become current. 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 March 2016 Visa Bulletin. You can view the visa bulletin in its entirety below. Please contact us with any questions. The State Department has released the January 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 January, the “Application Final Action Dates” will continue marching forward in most categories. In the family-based preference categories, with the exception of the F2B and F4 categories for nationals of Mexico, the “Application Final Action Dates” again will advance at least a few weeks in each category, with the largest advancement being six months (January 1, 2003 to June 1, 2003) in the first preference (F1) for nationals of the Philippines. Many of the “Dates for Filing” in the family-based categories will also move forward in January, in most cases by three to five months, although F2B, F3, and F4 for nationals of Mexico and the Philippines will not advance. There is a bright spot for spouses and minor children of Lawful Permanent Residents (F2A). There, the date for filing will advance over three months to June 15, 2015, as that category moves ever closer to becoming current. As has been typical, the picture is not as rosy in the employment-based preference categories. There will be some movement in the “Application Final Action Dates,” highlighted by an eight-month jump to February 1, 2008, in EB-2 for nationals of India. This comes on the heels of a 10-month advance in the December 2015 Visa Bulletin. The EB-3 category again will advance across the board from a few weeks to up to four months, and the rather unusual situation for nationals of China will continue as the EB-3 final action date will move ahead nearly three months to July 1, 2012, while the EB-2 final action date remains at February 1, 2012. This will undoubtedly cause many Chinese nationals to continue filing new I-140 petitions to “downgrade” to the EB-3 category, but this has been the case for several months and there seems to be little effect on the priority dates so far. Finally, whatever good news there is in the “final action dates” for nationals of India and China is diminished as the “Dates for Filing” for those countries remains at a standstill, as does EB-3 for the Philippines. The EB-3 “date for filing” for all other countries will advance to January 1, 2016, essentially making that category current. 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 January 2016 Visa Bulletin. The January Visa Bulletin also provides guidance regarding the scheduled expiration of two categories: the non-minister special immigrant program, which expired on December 11, 2015, and the Employment Fifth Preference Categories (I5 and R5), which expired on December 10, 2015. Those categories are “unavailable” for final action as of those dates and continuing into January 2016, unless Congress acts to extend those programs. We expect that Congress will ultimately extend these programs as part of larger budget legislation before the Christmas break, but there will likely be significant changes to the EB-5 program. Whenever the programs are extended, the priority dates would immediately become “current” for January for all countries except for China EB-5, which will have a January 8, 2014, priority date. You can view the visa bulletin in its entirety below. Please contact us with any questions. The State Department has released the December 2015 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 is continued good news with respect to the “Application Final Action Dates” in the EB2 and EB3 categories. Although EB2 for nationals of China will not advance, EB2 for nationals of India will advance 10 months to June 1, 2007. The EB3 category will advance across the board from a few weeks to up to four months. Unfortunately, as has been the case under the revised Visa Bulletin, the “Dates for Filing” in the employment-based preference categories will again not advance at all in December. In the family-based preference categories, the “Application Final Action Dates” will advance at least a few weeks in each category, with the greatest advancement being six months (June 1, 2002 to January 1, 2003) in the first preference (F1) for nationals of the Philippines. There will be no forward movement in the “Dates for Filing” in December. 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 December 2015 Visa Bulletin. The December Visa Bulletin also contains an estimate of upcoming priority date movement. DOS estimates that each of the family-based preference categories will advance several weeks each month. On the employment-based side, increased demand will likely result in little movement in EB2 for Chinese nationals, but DOS projects monthly advances of up to eight months in the EB2 category for Indian nationals. In the EB3 category, DOS estimates continued advancement of EB3 priority dates for all countries, including rapid movement for nationals of China and three to six weeks for nationals of India and the Philippines. You can view the visa bulletin in its entirety below. Please contact us with any questions. On the evening of Friday, September 25, the U.S. State Department (DOS) made the surprising and disappointing decision to re-issue the October 2015 Visa Bulletin. The Department of Homeland Security and United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will rely on the revised visa bulletin to determine eligibility for filing of applications for adjustment of status.
The revised bulletin largely rescinds the advancements made in some of the most severely backlogged preference categories. Specifically, the “Dates for Filing Applications” in the EB-2 category for nationals in China and India were shifted to much earlier dates that in the original bulletin. The affected categories are as follows: • EB-2 China moved back May 1, 2014, to January 1, 2013 • EB-2 India moved back from July 1, 2011, to July 1, 2009 • EB-3 Philippines moved back from January 1, 2015, to January 1, 2010 • FB-1 Mexico moved back from July 1, 1995, to April 1, 1995 • FB-3 Mexico moved back from October 1, 1996, to May 1, 1995 This is certainly frustrating news for the many individuals who had hoped to finally file adjustment of status applications based on the original October 2015 visa bulletin. We will continue to monitor this situation and we will alert our readers of any new developments on as soon as possible. As always, please contact us with any questions. USCIS and the U.S. State Department (DOS) have announced a major change to the monthly Visa Bulletin that will allow some individuals subject to lengthy quota backlogs to file adjustment of status (AOS) or immigrant visa (IV) applications much sooner than under the previous procedures. Effective with the October 2015 Visa Bulletin, the bulletin will now contain two different charts for each visa preference category that essentially create two different priority date cutoffs. The first chart will be the priority dates eligible for “Application Final Action,” i.e. when an AOS application may be approved or an IV issued. The second chart will be the priority dates eligible for “Filing Applications,” i.e. when an AOS or IV application may be filed. Each month, USCIS and DOS will monitor immigrant visa usage and adjust both the “Application Final Action Dates” and the “Dates for Filing Applications” accordingly. An application filed pursuant to the “Dates for Filing Applications” chart in a given month will remain pending until the associated priority date becomes current according to the “Application Final Action Dates” chart, at which time the agency responsible will make a final determination on the application. It is important to note that the “Dates for Filing Applications” are valid only for consular processing immigrant visa applications unless the visa bulletin specifically indicates that USCIS will allow AOS filings consistent with those dates. USCIS will determine whether there are enough immigrant visas available in each category to allow the filing of additional AOS applications. If so, the visa bulletin will state that “USCIS has determined that this chart may be used … this month for filing applications for adjustment of status with USCIS.” USCIS will also post the current “Dates for Filing Applications” charts on its website within two days of the release of the monthly visa bulletin. USCIS has stated that they will allow AOS filings pursuant to the “Dates for Filing Applications” chart listed in the October 2015 Visa Bulletin. Although this will not accelerate when permanent status can be granted, this is an important and welcome change for the many thousands of people who have approved immigrant visa petitions (Form I-130 or I-140), but are subject to the often severely oversubscribed quotas. This is especially true for nonimmigrant workers, many of whom will benefit from greater employment flexibility and the availability of ancillary benefits, such as employment authorization and simplified travel authorization for themselves and their dependent family members. Turning to the new October 2015 Visa Bulletin, one can quickly see the improvement, especially in the employment-based categories. As of October 1, some of the “Application Final Action Dates” will advance quite a bit, including EB-2 China (six years), EB-3 China (six years, 10 months), and EB-3 Philippines (over seven years). This is mainly due to the full annual allotment of immigrant visas becoming available with the start of the new fiscal year. Amazingly, the “Application Final Action Dates” for nationals of India will regress by several months to May 1, 2005 (EB-2) and March 8, 2004 (EB-3). However, the new procedures provide the intended and much needed relief as the “Dates for Filing Applications” in those categories are well ahead of the Final Action Dates, specifically July 1, 2011, and July 1, 2005, respectively. In the family-based preference categories, the “Application Final Action Dates” again advanced at least a few weeks, consistent with past visa bulletins. However, the “Dates for Filing Applications” range from 11 months to more than four years ahead of the Final Action Date cutoff. For example, the Final Action Date in the family-based first preference (F-1) category for nationals of the Philippines is June 1, 2001, but the Date for Filing is September 1, 2005. You can view the visa bulletin in its entirety below. Please contact us with any questions. The Department of State has released the September 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. Somewhat unexpectedly, the biggest movement is the severe retrogression of the EB-2 priority dates for nationals of India and China. As of September 1, 2015, the priority date in both categories will regress several years to January 1, 2006. State Department officials had previously estimated that the EB-2 priority dates established for August 2015 would hold until October, but that will not be the case. We expect those dates to advance again when the new fiscal year begins in October, but there has been no official projection yet. Aside from the EB-2 India/China regression, the September 2015 Visa Bulletin continues the slow forward advancement in nearly all other categories. As of September 1, 2015, all of the family-based preference categories advance at least a few weeks with the exception the family-based first (F-1) preference for nationals of Mexico. On the employment side, the priority dates in the employment-based third (EB-3) preference for all countries except India, China, and the Philippines remain nearly current at August 15, 2015. EB-3 for India, China, and the Philippines advances over six months to December 22, 2004. You can view the visa bulletin in its entirety below. Please contact us with any questions. 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. As the calendar turns to July, we take a look at the July 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. The July 2015 Visa Bulletin shows at least some forward movement in nearly all categories, although the pace of advancement seems to be slowing as the end of the fiscal year approaches. As of July 1, 2015, all of the family-based preference categories advance between three and six weeks with the exception of the family-based first (FB-1) preference category for nationals of the Mexico and the Philippines, which will not advance at all from November 15, 1994, and March 1, 2000, respectively. The priority dates in the employment-based third (EB-3) preference for all countries except India, China, and the Philippines advance another six weeks to April 1, 2015, and remain nearly current. EB-3 India advances only two weeks to February 1, 2004. There is more bad news for nationals of the Philippines as the EB-3 category becomes completely unavailable. The flip-flop between EB-2 and EB-3 continues for nationals of China as the EB-3 priority date does not advance, but the employment-based second (EB-2) preference advances another four months to October 1, 2013. The priority date in the EB-2 category for Indian nationals remains at October 1, 2008. According to Charles Oppenheim, Chief of Visa Control and Reporting at the U.S. State Department, in a regular meeting with the American Immigration Lawyers Association, worldwide demand in the EB-2 category has exploded in recent months leaving fewer unused visas “falling down” to EB-2 India. Unless the EB-2 worldwide demand subsides, Mr. Oppenheim does not expect 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. |
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