February 2017 Visa Bulletin: Dates for Filing Remain Stalled

The State Department has released the  February 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.

Once again, there will be small but consistent advances in the “Application Final Action Dates” in the family-based categories. Each of the family-based categories will advance at least a few weeks, with the exception of the Mexican third-preference for married sons and daughters of U.S. citizens (F3) and the Philippines second-preference for unmarried sons and daughters of Permanent Residents (F2B), which do not advance.

In the employment-based categories, the EB-1 category remains current for all countries. There will be minimal movement in the other categories with the exception of EB-2 India, which will remain at April 15, 2008, and EB-3 China for “other workers” (i.e. those sponsored for positions requiring less than two years of experience), which will remain at December 1, 2005.

The “Dates for Filing” for all family- and employment-based categories and all countries will remain the same as the January 2017 visa bulletin.

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 not yet determined which chart may be used for adjustment of status filings in November 2016. The agency will post that information on its website.

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