The DOS December 2016 Visa Bulletin (VB) is similar to last month’s in a number of ways. 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 to no advancement in the EB-3 category for all countries. Moreover, the non-regional center EB-5 category remains current for all countries except China. However, the EB-5 regional center category will immediately become unavailable again if there is no legislative action extending the immigrant investor pilot program (i.e. regional center program) by December 9, 2016.
The December 2016 VB highlights are as follows:
EB-1: All countries are current as the DOS previously advised. Further, all countries are anticipated to remain current for at least the first half of the fiscal year.
EB-2: Unfortunately, China and India experienced only incremental movement forward, and no further meaningful movement is anticipated for the next few months. All other countries remain current, and are expected to remain so for at least the next few months.
EB-3: China, India and the Philippines did not see any real advances this month, whereas all other countries retained the same final action date as last month’s visa bulletin. No further meaningful movement is anticipated for the next few months in this category, unfortunately.
EB-5: If there is no legislative action by December 9, 2016 extending the regional center program, this category for all countries will become “unavailable” effective December 10, 2016. On the other hand, the non-regional center category for all countries will remain current except for China, which still experiences no real movement forward in its final action date from the previous month.
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.
