Visa Lawyer Blog
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
Check-in with DOS’s Charlie Oppenheim: June 2018
Charles Oppenheim has projected the possibility of movement in the EB-2 and EB-3 categories for India, but the in-person interview requirement for employment-based adjustment of status applicants will create significant processing delays. This means that fewer visa numbers will be used than expected. To ensure that all visa numbers have been used for fiscal year 2018, which ends September 30, 2018, a cutoff date may be advanced for EB-2 and EB-3 India, and possibly EB-2 China. Oppenheim has not yet indicated how far he may advance the cutoff dates. However, if demand fluctuates, advancing the cutoff dates may not occur.