The Department of State (DOS) Visa Bulletin for May 2011 shows some progress in the employment-based (EB) categories.  In the employment-based second preference (EB2) category for India-born and China-born individuals, there was limited movement forward.  For China-born individuals, the EB2 priority date moved forward from July 22, 2006 to August 1, 2006.  India EB2 moved almost two months, from May 8, 2006 to July 1, 2006.  All countries other than India and China remain "current" in the EB2 category. Employment-based first preference (EB1) also remains current for all countries.
The employment-based third preference (EB3) numbers for all countries other than India, China and Mexico moved forward one month, from July 22, 2005 to August 22, 2005.  EB3 India moved forward one week from April 8, 2002 to April 15, 2002.  EB3 China moved forward over six weeks, from March 1, 2004 to April 15, 2004.  EB3 Mexico had the largest movement, from May 8, 2004 to September 8, 2004, a gain of three months.

The recent advancement of the China and India EB2 numbers is due to reallocation of “otherwise unused” visa numbers from the EB1 and EB2 categories.   However, due to the large numbers of individuals immigrating in the China and India EB2 categories, there is projected to be limited advancement of the cutoff dates in these categories for the remainder of the fiscal year.  In addition, many individuals have been able to “upgrade” from the EB3 category to the EB2 category, which leads to an increase in demand that is difficult to measure or predict.  For this reason, the May Visa Bulletin includes the following predictions for priority date advancement:

Employment Second: 
China: none to three weeks expected through July.  No August or September estimate is possible at this time.
India: One or more weeks, possibly followed by additional movement if demand remains stable.  No August or September estimate is possible at this time.

Employment Third:
Worldwide: three to six weeks
China: one to three weeks
India: none to two weeks
Mexico: although continued forward movement is expected, no specific projections are possible at this time.
Philippines: three to six weeks

Please be advised that the above ranges are estimates based upon the current demand patterns, and are subject to fluctuations during the coming months. The cut-off dates for upcoming months cannot be guaranteed, and no assumptions should be made until the formal dates are announced.

It is important to note that "nationality" for immigrant visa allotment 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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