In the February 2019 Visa Bulletin (VB), the EB-1 category remains retrogressed for all countries. The EB-2 and EB-3 categories continue to be current for all countries except for India and China (and the Philippines in the EB-3 category). The EB-5 regional center category for all countries is unavailable this month, as the regional center program was only extended to December 21, 2018.
This month’s VB highlights are as follows:
EB-1: All countries remain retrogressed. India and China now have a final action date of October 1, 2017, whereas all other countries have a final action date of June 1, 2018. There is no anticipated date as to when this category is expected to become current, although incremental movement is expected for each country in this category.
EB-2: Apart from India and China, all countries are current, and are expected to remain current in the coming months. China and India continue to be the exceptions in that both countries have final action dates that have experienced very little movement since last month’s VB, and neither country is anticipated to experience meaningful movement for the next few months.
EB-3: All countries are current. The exceptions are the Philippines, China and India, which will continue to have final action dates. While China and India are not anticipated to experience any meaningful movement in the coming months, the Philippines may experience rapid movement to generate demand.
EB-5: The regional center final action dates for all countries have become unavailable. The non-regional center final action dates continue to remain current except for China and Vietnam, both of which only experienced very little nominal movement and neither of which is expected to see any large movement in the coming months.
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 VB 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, Schedule A): 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.
