Visa Lawyer Blog
On March 16, 2012, at the AILA Midwest Regional Conference in Chicago, Charlie Oppenheim, Chief, Visa Control and Reporting at DOS, informed participants that he will likely retrogress India and China-mainland born Employment-Based Second Preference priority dates to around August 2007, effective with either the May or June 2012 Visa Bulletin. He also advised that he projects that all EB-1 visas available in FY2012 will be used this year, resulting in no “spilldown” to EB-2.
Congress sets limits on the number of immigrant visas that can be issued each year. In order to adjust status to that of legal permanent resident, an immigrant visa must be available to the applicant both at the time of filing and at the time of adjudication. The Department of State publishes a monthly Visa Bulletin which lists the cut-off dates that govern visa availability. Therefore, the monthly Visa Bulletin determines which applicants are eligible to file for adjustment of status, as well as which applicants are eligible for a grant of permanent resident status. Applicants who have a priority date earlier than the cut-off date published in the most current Visa Bulletin are eligible to apply for permanent residence.
The cut-off dates on the Department of State Visa Bulletin are adjusted monthly and are posted on its website at http://travel.state.gov. This adjustment is determined by the Department of State after consideration of a number of variables such as:
Number of visas used to that point
Projected demand for visas
Number of visas remaining under the annual numerical limit for that country and/or preference category.
We will update our readers with any new developments.