The DOS’s August 2016 Visa Bulletin (“VB”) reflects the previous advisory issued that final action dates would be imposed before the end of the fiscal year in categories that have been current, affecting India and China in the first employment based category, and all countries in all the second and third employment based categories. These final action dates are expected to remain in these categories until the new fiscal years starts in October.
Moreover, for individuals in certain countries (e.g., India, China, Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and the Philippines) there continues to be retrogression or little advancement, which is also anticipated to remain true through the end of the fiscal year (September 30).
Here are the highlights from the August VB:
EB-1: For China and India, DOS has established a cutoff date for August due to the continued high number of USCIS adjustment of status applicants under this category. Fortunately, all other countries remain current, and DOS has advised that the final action date for these two countries will be current for October.
EB-2: All countries now have a final action date imposed for August. Further, the August VB provides no meaningful movement forward for India, and no movement for China, from the July 2016 VB. As stated in this year’s July VB, no meaningful movement is expected for India, and none at all is expected for China, for the remainder of the fiscal year. The good news is that all countries (except India and China) should be current again in the October 2016 VB.
EB-3: Similarly, China did not move forward in the August VB, and no movement is expected in the next few months. Unfortunately for India, the retrogression increased slightly, but DOS predicted 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, and the DOS previously predicted 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.
EB-5: Finally, while all other countries remain current, there again 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.
