In the January 2020 Visa Bulletin (VB), the EB-1 category remains retrogressed for all countries.  In the EB-2 and EB-3 categories, all countries apart from China and India (and the Philippines in the EB-3 category) have returned to being current. The regional center category under the EB-5 category is unavailable, as legislation to extend that portion of the program has yet to be passed.

This month’s VB highlights are as follows:

EB-1: All countries remain retrogressed. The final action date for all countries have moved up from mid-July 2018 to early October 2018, although China experienced very little movement and India did not experience any movement. Fortunately, in the next few months, a lot of advancement is expected in which all countries may return to being current. Unfortunately, China and India are only expected to experience little, if any, movement forward in the coming months.

EB-2: All countries have returned to being current, with the exception of China (which experienced nominal movement) and India (which advanced a mere three days!). Unfortunately, a cut-off date is expected by the middle of the fiscal year for all countries, and again, China and India are only expected to experience little, if any, movement forward in the coming months.

EB-3: All countries have returned to being current, although India and China remain the exceptions in that neither experienced any movement. India and China experienced no movement this month, and the Philippines, another exception, experienced only nominal movement forward. Unfortunately, a cut-off date is also expected by in March 2020 VB for all countries. Similarly, the Philippines, China and India are only expected to experience little, if any, movement forward in the coming months.

EB-5: The regional center final action dates remain unavailable; however, pending legislation (if passed) will extend the regional center program until September 30, 2020. In the non-regional center categories, Vietnam, India and China have all advanced nominally, while all other countries remain current. In the coming months, India is expected to advance quickly, and China is also expected to move forward (albeit at a slower pace), whereas not much movement is anticipated for Vietnam.

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.