In the December 2018 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 expected to become unavailable this month, as the regional center program is currently only extended to December 7, 2018. This month, applicants are able to use the “Date for Filing Chart” to file their applications ahead of the priority dates posted in the “Final Action Date” chart. Interestingly, the filing date for EB-3 applications is months ahead of the filing date for the EB-2 category. For more information on the charts, please see our DOS Visa Bulletin and Quota Movement page.
This month’s VB highlights are as follows:
EB-1: All countries remain retrogressed. India and China have a final action date of September 1, 2016, whereas all other countries have a final action date of July 1, 2017. This category is unfortunately not expected to become current in the foreseeable future.
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 will continue to have final action dates, 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 and which are not anticipated to experience any meaningful movement in the coming months.
EB-5: On September 28, 2018, the Department of Defense and Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations Act, 2019 and Continuing Appropriations Act, 2019 extended the EB-5 regional center categories until December 7, 2018. As such, both the regional center and non-regional center dates for all countries continue to remain current except for China and Vietnam, both of which only experienced nominal movement and neither of which is expected to see any large movement in the coming months. However, if there is no legislative action extending the regional center category before the current sunset date, the final action dates in this category would immediately become “Unavailable” for December for all countries effective December 8, 2018.
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.
