According to the State Department’s August Visa Bulletin, cut-off dates for final issuance of an immigrant visa will be imposed for EB-1 India and China and for EB-2 Worldwide, as projected last month. The cut-off dates for EB-1 India and China have been set at January 1, 2010, while the cut-off dates for EB-2 Worldwide have been set at February 1, 2014. According to the State Department, it was necessary to implement this retrogression given the high demand for classification in these categories. It anticipates that these categories will be current again in October, the first month of fiscal year 2017.
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.
US: April Visa Bulletin update
USCIS has determined that, next month, it will only accept employment-based adjustment of status applications from foreign nationals with a priority date that is current for final action according to the State Department’s April Visa Bulletin.
Employer-sponsored foreign nationals with a priority date that makes them eligible for filing, but not final action, will not be able to submit an adjustment application next month.
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.
US: March visa bulletin update
USCIS has determined that, next month, it will only accept employment-based adjustment of status applications from foreign nationals with a priority date that is current for final action according to the State Department’s March Visa Bulletin.
Employer-sponsored foreign nationals with a priority date that makes them eligible for filing, but not final action, will not be able to submit an adjustment application next month, despite the State Department announcing significant advancements in the cutoff dates for filing eligibility.
US: March 2016 Visa Bulletin: EB-2 India and China final action dates will advance again
According to the State Department’s March Visa Bulletin, the cutoff date for final issuance of an immigrant visa will advance by five months for EB-2 China, to August 1, 2012, and by six weeks for EB-2 India, to October 15, 2008.
Final action cut-off dates for EB-3 professionals and skilled workers will advance by eight months for China, to June 1, 2013; by one month for India, to July 15, 2004; by just over two months for the Philippines, to March 15, 2008; and by three months for all other countries, to January 1, 2016. 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 22, 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.
USCIS confirms acceptance of adjustment applications from filing-eligible foreign nationals in November
Consistent with newly announced procedures, USCIS has confirmed that it will accept adjustment applications in November from foreign nationals with a priority date that makes them eligible for application filing according to the State Department’s November Visa Bulletin.
Under the reformed Visa Bulletin, the State Department lists two sets of cut-off dates for each backlogged immigrant visa preference category:
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services changes adjustment acceptance procedures
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has revised its procedures for determining whether it will accept adjustment applications under the newly reformatted State Department Visa Bulletin, it announced today. After the Visa Bulletin is released each month, USCIS will take an additional week to determine whether it will accept applications for adjustment and related work and travel benefits from those with a priority date that is current for application filing in the forthcoming month.
US State Department reissues October Visa Bulletin
The State Department has reissued the October Visa Bulletin with significant revisions in the cut-off dates for eligibility to file an application for adjustment of status or an immigrant visa. The revisions supersede the cut-off dates originally announced by the State Department and mean that far fewer employer-sponsored foreign nationals will be able to submit adjustments next month than originally anticipated.
The cut-off dates for eligibility to file an application for adjustment of status or an immigrant visa were rolled back by two years for EB-2 India, to July 1, 2009; by sixteen months for EB-2 China, to January 1, 2013; and by five years for the EB-3 and Other Worker subcategories for the Philippines, to January 1, 2010.
The State Department did not provide a detailed explanation of its reason for changing the filing eligibility dates, but suggested that the revised dates better reflect USCIS’s capacity to accept adjustment applications next month. The revisions come just a few weeks after the two agencies announced a reformatted Visa Bulletin that lists two cut-off dates for each backlogged employment-based preference category: (1) an “application final action” date, as has always been reported in the Bulletin; and (2) a new “date for filing visa applications,” the cutoff date for eligibility to submit an application for adjustment of status or an application for an immigrant visa. Final action dates are unchanged in the reissued October bulletin.
WHAT THE REISSUED VISA BULLETIN MEANS FOR EMPLOYERS AND FOREIGN NATIONALS
The sudden and unanticipated revision of the October Visa Bulletin means that many foreign nationals who were expecting to file an adjustment application and seek interim work and travel benefits will be unable to do so next month.
REVISED PRIORITY DATE CUT-OFFS FOR OCTOBER 2015
The State Department and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services will use the following dates for acceptance of and final action on applications for adjustment of status and immigrant visas in October. Revised cut-off dates are marked with an asterisk.
Application Final Action Dates
An employer-sponsored foreign national whose priority date is earlier than the application final action date for his or her country and employment-based preference category will be eligible for final agency action to issue an immigrant visa, subject to government processing times. Those with a pending or approved Form I-140 immigrant worker petition can submit an application for adjustment of status or an immigrant visa. Others with a current priority date can file an I-140 and adjustment application concurrently.
DATES FOR FILING VISA APPLICATIONS
A foreign national whose priority date is earlier than the application filing date for his or her country and employment-based preference category may submit an application for adjustment of status or an application for an immigrant visa in October 2015, along with his or her eligible dependents. Foreign nationals in this category will still be subject to backlogs before they can attain permanent residence, but may file applications for an employment authorization document (EAD) and travel authorization (advance parole) while they await a green card.
US State Department announces cut-off dates for immigrant visa availability and filing eligibility
The State Department today issued the October Visa Bulletin in a revised format that will affect the procedures under which certain employer-sponsored foreign nationals and their eligible dependents may submit an application for adjustment of status to permanent residence, as well as applications for interim work and travel authorization.
The revised Visa Bulletin, implementing a facet of the administrative action on immigration announced by the President and the Secretary of Homeland Security last November, is intended to alleviate some of the hardships of lengthy immigrant visa backlogs. It is also intended to improve the process for determining immigrant visa demand, minimize visa retrogression, and help to ensure that all available immigrant visas are issued each year.
Under the prior format of the Visa Bulletin, an employer-sponsored foreign national could file an application to adjust status (or an application for an immigrant visa abroad) once his or her priority date was “current” in the Visa Bulletin for his or her native country and preference category. A foreign national’s priority date – i.e., the date on which a labor certification (if required) or a Form I-140 immigrant worker petition was filed on his or her behalf – is current if it falls before the cut-off date listed in the Visa Bulletin.
The reformed Bulletin now lists two cut-off dates for each backlogged employment-based preference category and country: (1) an “application final action” date, as has always been reported in the Bulletin; and (2) a new “date for filing visa applications,” the cut-off for eligibility to submit an application for adjustment of status or an application for an immigrant visa.
APPLICATION FINAL ACTION DATES
An employer-sponsored foreign national whose priority date is earlier than the application final action date for his or her country and employment-based preference category will be eligible for final agency action to issue an immigrant visa, subject to government processing times. Those with a pending or approved Form I-140 immigrant worker petition can submit an application for adjustment of status or an immigrant visa. Others with a current priority date can file an I-140 and adjustment application concurrently.
In October 2015, final action dates will advance by six years for EB-2 China, but will retrogress by eight months for EB-2 India. EB-3 final action dates will advance by nearly seven years for China and just over two years for the Philippines, but will retrogress by more than nine months for India. For all other countries, EB-3 will remain unchanged from the September Visa Bulletin. EB-5 will advance by six weeks for China, but for the EB-5 Regional Center Pilot Program, immigrant visas will be unavailable unless Congress reauthorizes the program, which expires on September 30, 2015.
DATES FOR FILING VISA APPLICATIONS
A foreign national whose priority date is earlier than the application filing date for his or her country and employment-based preference category may submit an application for adjustment of status or an application for an immigrant visa in October 2015, along with his or her eligible dependents. Foreign nationals in this category will still be subject to backlogs before they can attain permanent residence, but may file applications for an employment authorization document (EAD) and travel authorization (advance parole) while they await a green card.
WHAT VISA BULLETIN REFORM MEANS FOR EMPLOYERS AND FOREIGN NATIONALS
The following are answers to frequently asked questions for foreign nationals eligible to file an application for adjustment of status under the reformatted Visa Bulletin. This FAQ will be updated as the State Department and USCIS issue information about application filing under the revised Bulletin.
How long will foreign nationals be able to rely on the application filing window remaining open?
The application filing opportunity is expected to be available only in the early part of the fiscal year. A foreign national whose priority date is current for application filing in October must be sure to file a complete Form I-485 adjustment of status application package with USCIS by October 30, 2015 to benefit. Though the application filing window may remain open after October 2015, this is not at all guaranteed.
Does the Visa Bulletin format change mean that applicants will be issued green cards any earlier?
No, foreign nationals will not get through the permanent residence backlog any more quickly. The reformatted Visa Bulletin just affects the date by which people may file applications to adjust status.
Are dependents eligible to submit an adjustment application along with a principal employer-sponsored foreign national whose priority date is current for application filing?
Yes. The principal’s spouse and unmarried children under the age of 21 are eligible to file an adjustment application with the principal. Each family member must submit his or her own application.
Must applicants be physically present in the United States in order to file an adjustment of status application?
Yes. A foreign national must be physically present in the United States in order to file an applicant for adjustment of status. Overseas spouses of adjustment applicants should consult with a legal professional to determine whether it is appropriate to enter or reenter the United States in order to be included in the principal’s adjustment application.
What must be included in an application for adjustment of status?
Foreign nationals should contact their designated immigration team for instructions on the personal and family information and documents they will need to provide for each adjustment application.