Articles Posted in Visa Bulletin

The Department of State has released its latest Visa Bulletin.

Click here to view the December 2014 Visa Bulletin

As projected by the U.S. Department of State, the December 2014 Visa Bulletin shows the EB2 date for nationals from India remains at 2/15/05; the EB3 date for nationals from India made a small movement from 11/22/03 to 12/1/03; the EB2 for Chinese Nationals moved from 12/8/09 to 1/1/10; the EB3 for Chinese Nationals moved from 1/1/10 to 6/1/10; and EB3 for WW moved from 6/1/12 to 11/1/12; and the F2A category moved from 3/1/13 to 3/22/13, except Mexico which moved from 9/22/12 to 1/1/13. The F2A category is reserved exclusively for Spouses and unmarried children (under the age of 21) of green card holders (LPRs).

The Department of State has released its latest Visa Bulletin.

Click here to view the November 2014 Visa Bulletin

As projected by the U.S. Department of State, the November 2014 Visa Bulletin shows the EB2 date for nationals from India retrogressed (moved backwards) from 5/1/09 to 2/15/05; the EB3 date for nationals from India made a small movement from 11/15/03 to 11/22/03; the EB2 for Chinese Nationals moved from 11/15/09 to 12/8/09; the EB3 for Chinese Nationals moved from 4/1/09 to 1/1/10; and EB3 for WW moved from 10/1/11 to 6/1/12; and the F2A category moved from 2/1/13 to 3/1/13, except Mexico which moved from 7/22/12 to 9/22/12. The F2A category is reserved exclusively for Spouses and unmarried children (under the age of 21) of green card holders (LPRs).

I attended an American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) DC Chapter meeting on Wednesday evening in DC, where U.S. State Department, Charles Oppenheim (the man responsible for creating and publishing the monthly Visa Bulletin) informed the audience of the numbers for the November and December 2014 Visa Bulletins.

Employment Based 2nd Preference:

a. EB2 for Indian Nationals – will retrogress several years either in November 2014 or December 2014 (possibly as early as 2005), with no movement again until roughly May/June of 2015

After the release of the “Visa Bulletin for October 2014” by the Department of State (DOS) the American Immigration Lawyers Association’s (AILA) DOS Liaison Committee had a “check-in” with Charles (“Charlie”) Oppenheim, Chief of the Visa Control and Reporting Division, DOS. They communicate with Mr. Oppenheim monthly to obtain his trend analysis and projections of the immigrant preference categories which are detailed in the monthly DOS visa bulletins.

Mr. Oppenheim states that retrogression (moving backwards) of the EB-2 India priority date appears to be imminent, and could happen as early as this November 2014. The October 2014 priority date for EB-2 India is currently at May 1, 2009. He feels given current demand, the priority date will retrogress, possibly to a date in early 2005. If you are an eligible EB-2 India client (eligible = your priority date is current according to the October 2014 visa bulletin) you should file your adjustment of status applications by the end of October. He warns that the window of opportunity may be closing.

The main reason he anticipates this EB-2 India retrogression is the large number of EB-3 to EB-2 upgrades by Indian-born applicants and this will most likely continue to increase the EB-2 India demand in the coming months.

The Department of State has released its latest Visa Bulletin.

Click here to view the October 2014 Visa Bulletin

As projected by the U.S. Department of State, the October 2014 Visa Bulletin shows the EB2 date for nationals from India remains at 5/1/09; the EB3 date for nationals from India made a small movement from 11/8/03 to 11/15/03; the EB2 for Chinese Nationals moved from 10/8/09 to 11/15/09; the EB3 for Chinese Nationals moved from 11/1/08 to 4/1/09; and EB3 for WW moved from 4/1/11 to 10/1/11; and the F2A category moved from 1/1/13 to 2/1/13, except Mexico which moved from 4/22/12 to 7/22/12. The F2A category is reserved exclusively for Spouses and unmarried children (under the age of 21) of green card holders (LPRs).

The Department of State has released its latest Visa Bulletin.

Click here to view the September 2014 Visa Bulletin

As projected by the U.S. Department of State, the September 2014 Visa Bulletin shows the EB2 date for nationals from India moving from 1/22/09 to 5/1/09; the EB3 date for nationals from India remains at 11/8/03; the EB2 for Chinese Nationals remains at 10/8/09; the EB3 for Chinese Nationals remains at 11/1/08; and EB3 for WW remains at 4/1/11; and the F2A category moved from 5/1/12 to 1/1/13, except Mexico which moved from 3/15/11 to 4/22/12. The F2A category is reserved exclusively for Spouses and unmarried children (under the age of 21) of green card holders (LPRs).

The Department of State has released its latest Visa Bulletin.

Click here to view the August 2014 Visa Bulletin

As projected by the U.S. Department of State, the August 2014 Visa Bulletin shows the EB2 date for nationals from India moving from 9/1/08 to 1/22/09; movement in EB3 date for nationals from India at 11/8/03; movement in EB2 for Chinese Nationals at 10/8/09; movement in EB3 for Chinese Nationals at 11/1/08; and EB3 for WW remains at 4/1/11; and the F2A category remains at 5/1/12, except Mexico at 3/15/11. The F2A category is reserved exclusively for Spouses and unmarried children (under the age of 21) of green card holders (LPRs).

The Department of State has released its latest Visa Bulletin.

Click here to view the July 2014 Visa Bulletin

As projected by the U.S. Department of State, the July 2014 Visa Bulletin shows the EB2 date for nationals from India moving from 11/15/04 to 9/1/08; movement in EB3 date for nationals from India at 11/1/03; movement in EB2 for Chinese Nationals at 7/1/09; EB3 for Chinese Nationals remains at 10/1/06; and EB3 for WW remains at 4/1/11; and the F2A category remains at 5/1/12,except Mexico at 3/15/11. The F2A category is reserved exclusively for Spouses and unmarried children (under the age of 21) of green card holders (LPRs).

The U.S. Department of State (DOS) has confirmed with the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) that they have stopped authorizing visa numbers for the EB-3 preference category for nationals of China as of 05/09/14. The reason for stopping is that the EB-3 China cutoff date retrogressed from 10/01/2012 in the May 2014 Visa Bulletin, to 10/01/2006 in the June 2014 Visa Bulletin. Retrogression typically occurs toward the end of the fiscal year as visa issuance approaches the annual category, or per-country limitations. Sometimes a priority date that meets the cut-off date one month will not meet the cut-off date the next month. When the new fiscal year begins on October 1, a new supply of visas is made available and usually, but not always, returns the dates to where they were before retrogression.

Any of the cases that USCIS has already requested a visa number for, but have not been authorized by the DOS (i.e., assigned an available visa number) will be considered pending until the priority date becomes current. These pending cases will be automatically authorized when the China EB-3 cut-off date advances beyond the applicant’s priority date. At that point, USCIS will be able to adjudicate the case.

The DOS Visa Bulletin summarizes the availability of immigrant visas on a monthly basis.