August 2020 Employment-Based Visa Numbers – Eligibility to File Adjustment of Status Applications

Employment- based	All Countries  Except Those Listed in the Table	CHINA- mainland born	El-Salvador Guatemala Honduras	India	Mexico	Philippines	Vietnam
1st	C	08FEB18	C	08FEB18	C	C	C
2nd	C	15JAN16	C	08JUL09	C	C	C
3rd	01APR19	15FEB17	01APR19	01OCT09	01APR19	01APR19	01APR19
Other Workers	01APR19	01AUG08	01APR19	01OCT09	01APR19	01APR19	01APR19
4th	C	C	01APR17	C	15JUN18	C	C
Certain Religious Workers	C	C	01APR17	C	15JUN18	C	C
5th Non-Regional Center (C5 and T5)	C	08AUG15	C	C	C	C	22JUL17
5th Regional  Center (I5 and R5)	C	08AUG15	C	C	C	C	22JUL17

April 2020 Employment-Based Visa Numbers – Eligibility to File Adjustment of Status Applications

Employment Based	All Countries Areas except Those Listed	CHINA-mainland Born	El-Salvador Guatemala Honduras	India	Mexico	Philippines	Vietnam
1st	01JUN19	08JUN17	01JUN19	01MAY15	01JUN19	01JUN19	01JUN19
2nd	C	01SEP15	C	25MAY09	C	C	C
3rd	01JAN17	15APR16	01JAN17	22JAN09	01JAN17	01JAN17	01JAN17
Other Workers	01JAN17	01JUL08	01JAN17	22JAN09	01JAN17	01JAN17	01JAN17
4th	C	C	15JUL16	C	22JAN18	C	C
Certain Religious Workers	C	C	15JUL16	C	22JAN18	C	C
5thNon-Regional Center (C5 and T5)	C	15MAY15	C	01JAN19	C	C	08FEB17
5th Regional Center (I5 and R5)	C	15MAY15	C	01JAN19	C	C	08FEB17

October 2018 Visa Bulletin – Employment-Based Visa Numbers – Eligibility to File Adjustment of Status Applications

Employment- Based	All Chargeability Areas Except Those Listed	CHINA- mainland born	El SALVADOR GUATEMALA HONDURAS	INDIA	MEXICO	PHILIPPINES
1st	01JUN18	01OCT17	01JUN18	01OCT17	01JUN18	01JUN18
2nd	C	15JUN15	C	22MAY09	C	C
3rd	C	08AUG15	C	01OCT09	C	01JUL17
Other Workers	C	01JUN08	C	01OCT09	C	01JUL17
4th	C	C	01MAY16	C	C	C
Certain Religious Workers	C	C	01MAY16	C	C	C
5th Non-Regional Center (C5 and T5)	C	01OCT14	C	C	C	C
5th Regional Center (I5 and R5)	C	01OCT14	C	C	C	C

EB-2 and EB-3 Updates for India & China

In a recent meeting on March 13, 2015, Charles (“Charlie”) Oppenheim, Chief of the Visa Control and Reporting Division, U.S. Department of State predicted the following for EB-2 and EB-3 China:

EB-2 India. After advancing 16 months in March 2015, EB-2 India will advance another eight months in April, to September 1, 2007. It is reasonable to expect EB-2 India to continue to advance at a steady pace for another couple of months before slowing or holding toward the end of the fiscal year.

EB-3 India. Mr. Oppenheim states that at this time, there is nothing which can be done to improve the India EB-3 cut-off date situation unless there is a legislative change. The amount of pre-adjudicated India EB-3 demand versus the annual limit prevents more than a one or two week monthly movement of this cut-off date. For example, at this time, more than 9,100 India EB-3 applicants with priority dates earlier than January 1, 2005 (alone) have already been reported to the Visa Office and the FY2015 annual limit is approximately 2,875.

 China EB-2 to EB-3 Downgrade Phenomenon (at least for FY2015). In April 2015, the EB-3 China cut-off date (currently October 22, 2011) will retrogress more than nine months to January 1, 2011. As a result, EB-3 China will return to its more “natural” position and will be three months earlier than EB-2 China (April 1, 2011). This will effectively end the EB-3 downgrade phenomenon.

For months, the cut-off date for EB-3 China has been later than EB-2 China due to insufficient EB-3 demand. As a result, EB-2 China beneficiaries filed EB-3 I-140 petitions in an attempt to take advantage of the earlier EB-3 cut-off date. This surge in demand required a correction to EB-3 China, resulting more than nine months of retrogression.

In November 2014, Mr. Oppenheim predicted that a correction would be required as early as February 2015. EB-3 China beneficiaries were fortunate that this phenomenon lasted two months longer than anticipated. EB-3 China beneficiaries with priority dates between April 1, 2011 and October 22, 2011 file them before the end of this month when the window will close.  It is reasonable to expect that filing now will not result in final action on their case in the foreseeable future.

Mr. Oppenheim continues to monitor EB-2 China, which will advance seven months to April 1, 2011 in April. He notes that additional forward movement in May remains possible if sufficient demand for EB-2 China does not materialize at the beginning of April. As was the case in EB-3 China, some corrective action may be required later in the year should there be excessive demand based on the movement of the EB-2 cut-off date.

EB-2 and EB-3 Forward Movement for India in March 2015- A Welcome News!

March 2015 Visa Bulletin was released by the State Dept. today.  Good news for employment-based green card applicants from India in that EB-3 visa category moved forward by about 8 days to January 2004.  There is a big jump forward for EB-2 from September 2005 (in February) to January 2007 (in March).  We hope that the immigrant visa numbers continue to move forward in the months to come.  We will keep you updated with the latest news.