The DOS’ July 2016 Visa Bulletin (VB) for the most part shows little changes which for nationals from most countries there is no impact in nearly all categories, as they remain current and are predominantly expected to remain so.
For individuals born in a handful of other countries (e.g., India, China, Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and the Philippines) there continues to be retrogression, little advancement and the anticipation that this will remain true through the end of the fiscal year (September 30).
Here are the highlights from the July VB which also outlines the predictions through the end of the fiscal year:
EB-1: Remains current for July, but DOS predicts that a cutoff date will be imposed before the end of this fiscal year for China and India. If that happens, DOS predicts that both countries would again be current in October with the start of the new fiscal year.
EB-2: For all countries, a final action date is expected to be imposed by September 2016. The good news is that all countries (except India and China) should be current again in the October 2016 VB. The July VB provides no meaningful movement forward for India, and no movement for China, from the June 2016 VB Further, no meaningful movement is expected for India, and none at all is expected for China, for the balance of the fiscal year.
EB-3: Similarly, China did not move forward for July, and no movement is expected in the next few months. The EB-2 and EB-3 cut off dates for China are again identical this month ending the brief trend wherein the EB-3 category pulled ahead of the EB-2 category for China from the December 2015 VB through the May 2016 VB. India also shows no meaningful movement, but DOS predicts that there should be some advancement by a few months through the end of the fiscal year. The Philippines continues to have measured forward movement DOS predicts that the final action date for the Philippines may advance to a date in early 2010 in the next few months. All other countries did not see any real advances in the final action date this month, and should not experience any major changes before the end of the fiscal year in September.
EB-5: Finally, while all other countries remain current, there was no movement for mainland China. Changes for this category are expected to be reflected particularly the October 2016 VB, because the Senate extended the regional center program through the end of this fiscal year.
General Notes on Final Action Dates: The final action or cutoff date is effectively one’s place in line to immigrate based on the individual’s priority date. Individuals with priority dates earlier than the listed cut-off date on the bulletin are eligible to submit applications for adjustment of status (or consular visa applications) or if their applications are already pending may have their cases adjudicated. If one’s priority date is not “current”, neither agency may accept the case for processing nor adjudicate a pending case because the “visa is not available” if the final action dates is not “current.” The priority date is established a number of ways:
- PERM: The date on which the application is filed with the Department of Labor, provided that the PERM is approved and an I-140 is then filed and approved based on the PERM.
- EB1 & EB2 NIW: The date on which the I-140 is filed with the USCIS, provided that the petition is approved.
- EB-5: The date on which the Form I-526, Immigrant Petition by Alien Entrepreneur is received by USCIS, provided that the petition is approved.
- Family-based immigration cases: The date on which the I-130 is filed with the USCIS, provided that the petition is approved.
Note that DOS looks at one’s country of birth in determining whether one is a national of a given country, not the country of citizenship. It is country of birth (principal alien or his/her spouse) that determines the country of chargeability to be “counted” against for purposes of permanent residency. Counting against the country of birth of one’s spouse is called “cross-chargeability.”
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.
