In the May 2020 Visa Bulletin (VB), the EB-1 category for all countries apart from China and India became current while remaining retrogressed for China and India. The EB-3 category remains retrogressed for all countries. Interestingly, India advanced by a few months in the EB-1 category this month, as opposed to only experiencing incremental movement. In the EB-2 category, all countries apart from China and India remained current. Both the regional center and non-regional center EB-5 categories have remained current for all countries except India, China and Vietnam, as the regional center program was extended through to September 30, 2020.
This month’s VB highlights are as follows:
EB-1: All countries apart from China and India became current while remaining retrogressed for China and India. For China, EB-1 final action date progressed forward only seven days. For India, EB-1 final action date progressed forward a surprising three months. With COVID-19 effects continuing to be felt worldwide, it will be difficult to predict any movement forward or backwards in the coming months.
EB-2: All countries remain current, with the exception of China (which experienced advancement of one month) and India (which advanced a mere eight days).
EB-3: All countries remain retrogressed. While China experienced nominal movement forward, India experienced two months of advancement yet both remain retrogressed. All other categories experienced no change from April 2020 and remain retrogressed.
EB-5: China experienced advancement of approximately 1.5 months. India experienced advancement of almost ten months changing from Final Action date of January 1, 2019 to October 1, 2019. Vietnam experienced nominal advancement as well.
General Notes on Final Action Dates: Due to a Proclamation issued by President Donald Trump on April 22nd, the entry of individuals as immigrants has been temporarily suspended, with the exception of spouses of U.S. citizens and EB-5 Investor Visas. 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, 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.
