| October Visa Bulletin: EB3 returns, India and China EB2 creep forward |
| published 10 September 2009 |
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The Department of State (DOS) Visa Bulletin for October 2009 shows a small amount of progress in the employment-based second preference (EB2) category for China-born and India-born individuals. For India, the EB2 priority date has moved to January 22, 2005 from January 8, 2005; for China, the EB2 priority date has moved to March 22, 2005 from January 8, 2005. All countries other than India and China remain “current” in the EB2 category. Employment-based first preference (EB1) remains current for all countries as well. After being “unavailable” since April, employment-based third preference (EB3) numbers are now available. For all countries other than India, China and Mexico, the EB3 priority date will be June 1, 2002. EB3 China will move to February 22, 2002, EB3 India will move to April 15, 2001, and EB3 Mexico will move to May 1, 2002. These dates are significantly different than the EB3 priority dates that applied in April 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 since 1996. |
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