The Department of State (DOS) Visa Bulletin for February 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 one year, from January 1, 2009 to January 1, 2010.  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 8, 2002 to August 15, 2002. EB3 China moved forward from October 15, 2004 to December 1, 2004.  All other EB3 chargeability areas, including Mexico and Philippines, advanced from February 1, 2006 to February 22, 2006.

The Visa Bulletin includes the following predictions about visa availability in the EB2 and EB3 categories in the coming months:

Employment Second:

China and India:  Reports from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) indicate that the rate of new filings for adjustment of status in recent months has been extremely low.  This fact has required the continued rapid forward movement of the cut-off date, in an attempt to generate demand and maximize number use under the annual limit.  Once the level of new filings or USCIS processing increases significantly, it will be necessary to slow or stop the movement of the cut-off.  Readers are once again advised that an eventual need to retrogress the cut-off date is also a distinct possibility.  

Employment Third:

Worldwide: up to one month
China: up to one month
India: up to two weeks
Mexico: up to one month
Philippines: up to one month

From a practical perspective, persons in the India and China EB2 categories who will become "current" in February 2012 should do their best to ensure that they file their Adjustment of Status (AOS) applications during that month. Until the March Bulletin is issued we will not know if there will be retrogression or continued advancement of dates.  Please note that there is no advantage to filing an AOS application on the first date of the month.  There is no need to rush to file as early as possible in February, just ensure that the AOS application is received by USCIS in February.  

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. We will be in contact with clients and/or their employers whose priority dates will be current.

Please 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. Married applicants who were not born in the same country can be “charged” against the less backlogged country. For example, if the principal beneficiary was born in India, but is married to someone born in the United Kingdom, the couple can be “charged” to the United Kingdom and essentially avoid retrogression.

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.

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