In the October 2019 Visa Bulletin (VB), the EB-1 category remains retrogressed for all countries. In the EB-2 and EEB-3 categories, all countries apart from China and India have returned to being current, and China experienced further retrogression in the EB-2 category. The regional center category under EB-5 has become unavailable until further legislative action is taken by Congress.
This month’s VB highlights are as follows:
EB-1: All countries remain retrogressed. However, except for China, the final action dates for all countries have returned to those seen in the July 2019VB. Up to the January 2020 VB, all countries are only anticipated to move forward up to three months, although India is expected to experience little, if any, movement.
EB-2: While all countries have returned to being current, China experienced further retrogression (with a final action date retrogressing 2 years from the final action date that it retained since the August 2019 VB). Another exception is India, which essentially retained its final action date since last month give that it barely experienced any movement forward. Up to the January 2020 VB, neither India nor China are expected to experience any meaningful movement in the next few months, whereas the all other countries are anticipated to remain current.
EB-3: All countries have returned to being current, although India and China remain the exceptions. India returned to the final action date seen in the July 2019 VB, but China only advanced a bit further than its May 2019 VB final action date. Up to the January 2020 VB, neither India nor China are expected to experience any meaningful movement in the next few months, whereas the all other countries are anticipated to remain current. Additionally, the Philippines is expected to move forward by a few months in the coming visa bulletins.
EB-5: The regional center category has become unavailable, as the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2019 (H.J.Res.31) only authorized the regional center program through to September 30, 2019. Until further legislative action is taken, the regional center category will remain unavailable. In the non-regional center category, Vietnam retrogressed nominally, and China experienced no movement, whereas the India final action date advanced several months. The non-regional center category should remain current for all countries, although India, China and Vietnam should still have final action dates.
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.
