Department of State (DOS) Visa Bulletin for June 2011 shows continued progress in the employment-based (EB) categories for India and China.  In the employment-based second preference (EB2) category for India-born and China-born individuals, there was forward movement for the second month in a row.  For China-born individuals, the EB2 priority date moved forward over two months, from August 1, 2006 to October 15, 2006.  India EB2 moved from July 1, 2006 to October 15, 2006, a jump of more than three months.  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 also advanced, moving from August 22, 2005 to September 15, 2005. EB3 India moved forward from April 15, 2002 to April 22, 2002.  EB3 China moved forward one month, from April 15, 2004 to May 15, 2004.  EB3 Mexico moved from September 8, 2004 to December 22, 2004, a gain of three months.

The continued advancement of the China and India EB2 numbers is due to reallocation of “otherwise unused” visa numbers from the EB1 and EB2 categories.  However, the June Visa Bulletin also includes a warning from DOS that this continued progress may not be sustained for the rest of the fiscal year: “Cut-off date movement for upcoming months cannot be guaranteed, and because of the variables involved, no assumptions should be made until the dates are formally announced. Should there be a sudden or significant increase in India and China Employment Second preference demand it may be necessary to slow, stop, or retrogress that cut-off date as we approach the end of fiscal year 2011.”

From a practical perspective, this means that persons in the India and China EB2 who will become “current” in June 2011 should ensure that they file their Adjustment of Status (AOS) applications during that month, as it is possible they will not be able to file their AOS applications in July, should priority dates retrogress or become unavailable.

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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