Business Immigration Insights

The Visa Bulletin is released monthly by the Department of State and is used to determine when a sponsored foreign national can submit the final step of the green card process. The complete visa bulletin can be found here.

Below is a summary of the September Visa Bulletin, including Final Action Dates and changes from the previous month:

China: EB-1 remains stalled at January 1, 2012, EB-2 retrogresses to January 1, 2013, and EB-3 continues to move forward - advancing four months to November 1, 2014

India: EB-1 remains at January 1, 2012, EB-2 falls behind nearly two years to January 1, 2007, and EB-3 moves back six years to January 1, 2003

Philippines: EB-1 moves ahead one month to June 1, 2016, EB-2 retrogresses to January 1, 2013, and EB-3 moves to November 1, 2016

All Other Countries: EB-1 moves forward one month to June 1, 2016, EB-2 retrogresses to January 1, 2013 and EB-3 falls to November 1, 2016

The September Visa Bulletin includes the following important projections for future movement:

China:  

• EB-1 backlogs are expected to remain until December, with “limited, if any forward movement” in October and November
• EB-2 is expected to return to March 1, 2015 in October and move ahead slowly each month after that,
• EB-3 is expected to return to July 1, 2014 in October and move forward approximately three weeks each month starting in November

India:   

• EB-1 backlogs are expected to remain until December, with “limited, if any forward movement” in October and November
• EB-2 is expected to return to March 15, 2009 in October and move forward “up to two weeks” per month beginning in November
• EB-3 is expected to return to January 1, 2009 in October and may move ahead slowly each month after that

Philippines:       

• EB-1 backlogs are expected to remain until December, with “limited, if any forward movement” in October and November
• EB-2 is expected to become current in October and remain current for subsequent months
• EB-3 is expected to return to June 1, 2017 in October, with “minimal” forward movement after October

All Other Countries:      

• EB-1 backlogs are expected to remain until December, with “limited, if any forward movement” in October and November
• EB-2 and EB-3 are expected to become current in October and remain current for subsequent months

NOTE: USCIS has not yet announced if it will accept I-485 applications in September based on the Department of State’s Dates for Filing chart. However, the trend over the last several months has been to NOT honor the Dates for Filing chart, and instead only accept I-485 applications based on the Final Action Dates as listed above.