On October 10, 2006, the U.S. Department of State (DOS) released the November 2006 Visa Bulletin.  There was no retrogression in any category, and movement forward in most categories.

EB-1 remains current for all countries.  EB-2 is current for all countries other than China and India.  For individuals born in China, the EB-2 category advanced two weeks to April 15, 2005.  For individuals born in India, EB-2 moved forward six months, to January 1, 2003.

In the EB-3 category, the priority date moved forward two months to July 1, 2002 for Chinese-born and Philippine-born individuals as well as for the world-wide cut off (individuals born in all countries other than India, China, Mexico, or the Philippines).  The EB-3 priority date for India-born individuals is unchanged at April 22, 2001.  The EB-3 cutoff date for persons born in Mexico is unchanged May 1, 2001.

It is important to note that the country of "chargeability" is not the same as citizenship.  Generally, DOS looks at the country of birth in determining whether a person is chargeable to a given country.  As a result, persons who become citizens of other countries (i.e., Indians who become Canadian citizens) are still considered chargeable to their birth country for immigrant visa purposes.

While the forward progress of the employment categories is encouraging, DOS advises in the Visa Bulletin that cut-off date movements have been greater than might be expected, due to light demand for numbers from Citizenship and Immigration Services (CIS).   DOS states that "once number use increases significantly as CIS addresses its backlog, cut-off date movement will necessarily slow or stop. Moreover, in some categories cut-off date retrogression is a particular possibility."  DOS cannot predict when increased use of numbers by CIS may influence cut-off dates, but advises that the recent rate of advancement will not continue indefinitely.

For more information on the Visa Bulletin and country quota movements, including information about movement in the Family-Based Quotas, please see our DOS Visa Bulletin and Quota Movement page (http://www.jackson-hertogs.com/quota/quota.shtml) which includes detailed charts of quota movement for the past decade.

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