Department of State (DOS) Visa Bulletin for January 2012  again shows progress in the employment-based (EB) categories with significant advancement for India EB2 and China EB2.  For both China-born and India-born individuals, the EB2 priority date moved forward almost nine months, from March 15, 2008 to January 1, 2009.  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) dates for all countries also advanced, albeit on a much more limited basis.  EB3 India moved forward from August 1, 2002 to August 8, 2002.  EB3 China moved forward from September 08, 2004 to October 15, 2004.  All other EB3 chargeability areas, including Mexico and Philippines, advanced from January 15, 2006 to February 1, 2006. 

The Visa Bulletin does not include any prediction about possible advancement of the EB2 and EB3 priority dates in the coming months, nor does it include any warning about possible retrogression.  As additional information or predictions about priority dates becomes available, Jackson & Hertogs will provide updates.

From a practical perspective, persons in the India and China EB2 categories who will become "current" in January 2012 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 February, should priority dates retrogress or become unavailable.  Please note that there is no advantage to filing an AOS application on the first date of the month, so there is no need to rush to file as early as possible in January.

Clients of Jackson & Hertogs may wish to review our AOS Checklist, which includes a list of documents and information that will be required to prepare and file the AOS application. WARNING: do not obtain a medical examination report until you know that your priority date will be current.   Please note that Jackson & Hertogs runs a monthly priority date report after the Visa Bulletin is published, and will be contacting clients who will be current in January and eligible to file AOS applications that month. 

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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