The DOS March 2017 Visa Bulletin (VB) continues the pattern seen in previous visa bulletins. The EB-1 visa category for all countries, and the EB-2 category for all countries except China and India, remain current. Similarly, there has been little advancement in the EB-3 category for all countries. Moreover, except for China, all countries in the EB-5 categories remain current given the Continuing Resolution which extended a number of programs, including the regional center portion of the EB-5 immigrant investor pilot program, until April 28, 2017.
This month’s VB highlights are as follows:
- EB-1: As the DOS has advised over the past few months, all countries continue to be current. However, a final action cut-off date is anticipated to be imposed for India and China by August.
- EB-2: All countries also remain current, and are expected to remain so in the coming months. China and India remain the exceptions in that they continue to experience little movement forward, and no further meaningful movement is anticipated for the next few months for either country.
- EB-3: No country experienced any real advances this month. China and the Philippines are expected to experience moderate advancement (i.e. of approximately 6 months), but no meaningful movement is anticipated for the next few months for other countries in this category. India in particular is expected to only experience extremely limited movement forward, unfortunately.
- EB-5: Because the EB-5 program was extended to the end of April 2017, all countries are anticipated to remain current except for China, which still experiences no real movement forward in its final action date from the previous month and is expected to only experience incremental advances.
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.
