USA: June 2016 Visa Bulletin
According to the State Department’s June Visa Bulletin, there will be significant retrogressions in the cut-off dates for final issuance of an immigrant visa for EB-2 India and China and EB-3 China next month, consistent with recent agency projections. EB-2 India will retrogress by more than four years, to October 1, 2004, while EB-2 China will retrogress by 20 months, to January 1, 2010. The EB-3 China cut-off date for professionals and skilled workers will move back by just over three years and seven months, to January 1, 2010.
USA: May 2016 Visa Bulletin
According to the State Department’s May Visa Bulletin, there will be modest advancement in the cut-off dates for final issuance of an immigrant visa for EB-2 and EB-3 India next month, while the cut-off dates in these categories for China will remain mostly unchanged. In the EB-2 category, the final action cut-off date for India will advance by two weeks, to November 22, 2008, while China will remain at September 1, 2012.
US: USCIS finalises guidance on job changes by employment-based adjustment applicants
A final USCIS guidance memorandum on job portability for employment-based adjustment applicants broadly recognizes that applicants subject to immigrant visa backlogs and lengthy adjudication periods should be able to advance in their careers or move to a new job in the same or a related field without the need for a new labour certification or Form I-140 immigrant worker petition.
US: April 2016 Visa Bulletin
According to the State Department’s April Visa Bulletin, the cut-off date for final issuance of an immigrant visa will advance by one month for EB-2 China, to September 1, 2012, and by three weeks for EB-2 India, to November 8, 2008.
Final action cut-off dates for EB-3 professionals and skilled workers will advance by two and one-half months for China, to August 15, 2013; by three weeks for India, to August 8, 2004; by six weeks for the Philippines, to May 1, 2008; and by six weeks for all other countries, to February 15, 2016. Final action cut-off dates for EB-5 China, in both the Regional Center and non-Regional Center programs, will advance by one week, to February 1, 2014.
USA: February 2016 Visa Bulletin
EB-2 India and China Final Action Dates Will Advance Next Month; Moderate Advancements for EB-3 India, China and the Philippines, and EB-5 China
According to the State Department’s February Visa Bulletin, the cut-off date for final issuance of an immigrant visa will advance by six months for EB-2 India, to August 1, 2008, and by one month for EB-2 China, to March 1, 2012.
Cut-off dates for EB-3 professionals and skilled workers will moderately advance for India, China and the Philippines, while remaining the same for all other countries. For EB-3 professional workers, the final issuance cut-off dates will move forward by one month for India, to June 15, 2004, by three months for China, to October 1, 2012, and by over two months for the Philippines, to January 8, 2008. For EB-3 skilled-workers, India will progress by one month, to June 15, 2004, and China will progress by three weeks, to December 22, 2006.
Final action cut-off dates for EB-5 China, in both the Regional Centre and non-Regional Centre programs, will advance by one week, to January 15, 2014.
There will be no advancement in cut-off dates for eligibility to file an application for permanent residence. Next week, USCIS is expected to determine whether it will accept adjustment of status applications from foreign nationals with a priority date that makes them eligible to file in February. The agency has not accepted these applications in January and will announce whether it will begin doing so in February on its own Visa Bulletin web page.