The Department of State (DOS) Visa Bulletin for November 2008 shows slight forward movement for all categories.

In the employment-based second preference category (EB2), all countries other than India and China remain current. EB2 India will move to June 1, 2003 and EB2 China will move forward to June 1, 2004. This is a movement forward of two months after significant movement backwards in September 2008.

In the EB3 category, the priority date for all countries other than India, China and Mexico, will move forward four months to May 1, 2005. EB3 China moves forward four months as well to February 1, 2002 and EB3 Mexico moves to September 1, 2002. EB3 India will move forward three months to October 1, 2001. Employment-based first preference (EB1) remains current for all countries.

The DOS advises in the November visa bulletin that slow forward movement and retrogression is to be expected:

The level of demand being received from Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Offices indicates that they have a significant amount of cases with priority dates that are earlier than the established cut-offs. This is likely to result in slow forward movement of the cut-off dates for most Employment categories during the next few months. Sudden changes in the USCIS demand patterns could result in fluctuations in the monthly cut-off dates, and retrogressions cannot be ruled during FY-2009.

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

For general information on visa retrogression, please see our FAQ on this subject. 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 which includes detailed nationality-specific charts of quota movement for the past decade.

© 1999-2012, Jackson & Hertogs - All rights reserved