Visa Lawyer Blog

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In this blog post, we discuss visa bulletin trends and projections for the month of March. The U.S. Department of State (DOS) recently released the March 2020 Visa Bulletin revealing some good and bad news for employment based categories and family preference categories.

Adjustment of Status Filing Charts March 2020:

For Family-Sponsored Filings:
In the F2A category, there is a cutoff date on the Dates for Filing chart.  However, the category is “current” on the Final Action Dates chart.  Accordingly, applicants in the F2A category may file using the Final Action Dates chart for March 2020.

For all other family-sponsored preference categories, applicants must use the Dates for Filing chart in the Department of State Visa Bulletin for March 2020.

For Employment-Based Preference Filings:
For all employment-based preference categories, applicants must use the Dates for Filing chart in the Department of State Visa Bulletin for March 2020.

Employment-based Categories: The Highlights

China: This month, employment based categories for China experienced varying degrees of forward movement, with EB-3 experiencing the most advancement.

  • EB-1 China advanced ten days to June 1, 2017
  • EB-2 China advanced one month to August 15, 2015
  • EB-3 China advanced nearly three months to March 22, 2016

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In this post, we would like to keep our readers informed about Visa Bulletin projections for the coming months. Charles Oppenheim, Chief of the Visa Control and Reporting Division of the U.S. Department of State provides a monthly analysis of each month’s Visa Bulletin including discussion of current trends and future projections for immigrant preference categories. This post will focus on the EB-1, EB-2, EB-3, and EB-5 categories.

Below are the highlights of those trends and projections for the coming months.

Employment-Based Immigration: First Preference EB-1

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We are happy to report that on July 10, 2019 the House of Representatives passed the Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act of 2019 (H.R. 1044), a bill that if enacted, would amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to eliminate the per-country numerical limitation for employment-based immigrants, and increase the per-country numerical limitation for family-sponsored immigrants.

What is H.R. 1044?

H.R. 1044 is a piece of legislation that was first introduced before the House of Representatives on February 7, 2019 by Representative Zoe Lofgren.

Employment-Based Sponsorship

The bill seeks to drastically change the way that our employment-based green card system works by eliminating the “per country cap” that limits the number of green cards that may be issued to applicants per fiscal year depending on their country of origin also known as country of chargeability.

Currently, employment-based workers fall into one of five “preference categories” including EB-1 Priority Workers, EB-2 Professionals Holding Advanced Degrees/Persons of Exceptional Ability, EB-3 Skilled Workers, Professionals, EB-4 Special Immigrants, and EB-5 Investors. Each of these categories is subject to Congressional numerical limitations, as well as per-country limitations.

H.R. 1044 proposes to remove the per-country limitations to enable applicants to obtain employment visas based on merit, and not based on country of origin. The bill would also eliminate the 7% cap for employment-based visas and remove an offset that reduced the number of visas for individuals from China.

The bill also establishes transition rules for employment-based visas from FY2020-FY2022, by reserving a percentage of EB-2 (workers with advanced degrees or exceptional ability), EB-3 (skilled and other workers), and EB-5 (investors) visas for individuals not from the two countries with the largest number of recipients of such visas. Of the unreserved visas, not more than 85% would be allotted to immigrants from any single country.

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In this post, we would like to keep our readers informed about Visa Bulletin projections for the coming months. Charles Oppenheim, Chief of the Visa Control and Reporting Division of the U.S. Department of State provides a monthly analysis of each month’s Visa Bulletin including discussion of current trends and future projections for immigrant preference categories.

Below are the highlights of those trends and projections for August 2019:

EB-1 Worldwide: As demand has increased in recent weeks, this category is expected to retrogress in early August, and return back to April 22, 2018 in October of this year.

EB-1 India: This category is not expected to advance prior to October 2019. During October 2019, this category is expected to return to a Final Action Date of February 22, 2017.

EB-1 China: This category is not expected to advance prior to October 2019.  

EB-2 Worldwide: Due to increased demand in recent weeks, this category is no longer expected to remain current through September 2019. A retrogression is expected in this category in early August 2019. EB-2 Worldwide is expected to become current again in October 2019.

EB-2 India: This category is expected to continue to advance slowly, by a few days or a week.

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Photo: JM Parrone

In this post, we would like to keep our readers informed about Visa Bulletin projections for the coming months. Charles Oppenheim, Chief of the Visa Control and Reporting Division of the U.S. Department of State provides a monthly analysis of each month’s Visa Bulletin including discussion of current trends and future projections for immigrant preference categories

Below are the highlights of those trends and projections for July 2019:

For Employment-Based Preference Filings:
You must use the Final Action Dates chart in the Department of State Visa Bulletin for July 2019.

Employment-Based Categories:

EB-1 Worldwide: Demand for this category remains steady. For the month of July EB-1 remains at April 22, 2018 and is not expected to become current in the foreseeable future. The Final Action Date will likely not change in July.

  • EB-1 India: No forward movement is expected in this category before October 2019. It is expected that this category will return to a Final Action Date of February 22, 2017 in October of this year.
  • EB-1 China: Has advanced to May 8, 2017 in the July visa bulletin.

EB-2 Worldwide: Current in July and will remain current through September 2019.

  • EB-2 India: Is expected to advance slowly during the month of July by a few days or one week at a time. Some forward movement may occur during the summer is there is lower EB-2 Worldwide demand.
  • EB-2 China: Has advanced to November 1, 2016 in the July visa bulletin. The category will continue to advance due to low demand.

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In this post, we would like to keep our readers informed about Visa Bulletin projections for the coming months. Charles Oppenheim, Chief of the Visa Control and Reporting Division of the U.S. Department of State provides a monthly analysis of each month’s Visa Bulletin including discussion of current trends and future projections for immigrant preference categories.

Below are the highlights of those trends and projections as of January 2019:

Employment-Based Immigration:

EB-1: DOS predicts that demand in the EB-1 category within the coming months will prevent the EB-1 Worldwide category from becoming current.

EB-1 Worldwide is expected to advance gradually to a maximum period of two months each month beginning in March through the month of May.

Visa numbers for EB-1 China and EB-1 India will be used up very quickly. EB-1 China and EB-1 India are expected to advance gradually anywhere from zero to one month each month beginning in March through the month of May.

EB-2 Worldwide: is projected to remain current for the foreseeable future. A Final Action Date will likely not be imposed for the remainder of this fiscal year.

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In this post, we would like to keep our readers informed about Visa Bulletin projections for the coming months. Charles Oppenheim, Chief of the Visa Control and Reporting Division of the U.S. Department of State provides a monthly analysis of each month’s Visa Bulletin including discussion of current trends and future projections for immigrant preference categories.

EB-1: The following categories are expected to experience some forward movement in the month of December, however it is not yet known how much advancement will take place: EB-1 Worldwide, EB-1 China, and EB-1 India. It is not expected for these categories to return to current during this calendar year. A cutoff date is expected for EB-1 Worldwide until the first half of the fiscal year.

EB-2 China: is expected to continue to experience forward movement

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In this post, we would like to keep our readers informed about Visa Bulletin projections for the coming months. Charles Oppenheim, Chief of the Visa Control and Reporting Division of the U.S. Department of State provides a monthly analysis of each month’s Visa Bulletin including discussion of current trends and future projections for immigrant preference categories.

EB-1 Worldwide: this category is not expected to advance until January 2019. Time will tell whether this category will become current during the next year.

EB-1 China and EB-1 India: Also expected to experience forward movement until January 2019. A cutoff date for this category will continue through the next 12 months.

EB-2 Worldwide: This category is expected to remain current until at least the foreseeable future.

EB-2 China: is two months behind EB-3 China, which may prompt EB-2 applicants to downgrade.

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In this post, we would like to keep our readers informed about Visa Bulletin projections for the month of October. Charles Oppenheim, Chief of the Visa Control and Reporting Division of the U.S. Department of State provides a monthly analysis of each month’s Visa Bulletin including discussion of current trends and future projections for immigrant preference categories.

Below are the highlights of those trends and projections for the month of October.

EB-1 Worldwide: It is expected that heavy demand in this category will prevent this category from becoming current in October. Previously, it was believed that EB-1 Worldwide would become current on October 1st, but this will no longer be the case according to current projections. EB-1 China and EB-1 India will have earlier final action dates than the EB-1 Worldwide category, which are expected to fall in the month of October. It is projected that the EB-1 categories will not move forward until about December or 2019.

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In this post, we would like to keep our readers informed about Visa Bulletin projections for the month of May and June. Charles Oppenheim, Chief of the Visa Control and Reporting Division of the U.S. Department of State provides a monthly analysis of each month’s Visa Bulletin including discussion of current trends and future projections for immigrant preference categories.

Below are the highlights of those trends and projections:

Check-in with DOS’s Charlie Oppenheim: May 2018

Employment Based Categories

For the month of May, the following categories remained steady with no changes in the final action dates:

  • EB-1 China and India
  • EB-2 India
  • EB-3 China and Philippines
  • EB-4 El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras and
  • EB-5 China

Categories that experienced some forward movement included:

  • EB-2 China to move forward one month to September 1, 2014
  • EB-3 India to advance three months to May 1, 2008
  • EB-3 Other Workers—China to move forward one month to May 1, 2007
  • EB-4 Other Workers—India to move forward about 3 months to May 1, 2008
  • EB-4 Mexico to advance 5 weeks to October 22, 2016

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