Employment-Based Preference Categories. Increased demand across the employment-based preferences, including EB-4 and EB-5, has significantly decreased the "otherwise unused numbers" which have traditionally trickled up to EB-1 and potentially down to EB-2. For example, in FY 2016, Special Immigrant Juvenile cases used more than 50% of the entire EB-4 annual limit, thus preventing many...

EB-4 and Certain Religious Workers (SR) Preference Categories. As previously predicted, and noted in the July Visa Bulletin, a cut-off date of January 1, 2010 will be imposed in July for EB-4 Mexico. This is the same cut-off date imposed earlier this fiscal year for EB-4 El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras. There will be...

Final Action Date Movements Consistent with Prior Predictions. The Final Action Dates in the April 2016 Visa Bulletin are consistent with the U.S. Department of State (DOS) predictions from last month. In February, DOS predicted that we would continue to see forward movement of up to five months in EB-2 and EB-3 China, and...

Waiting List. On January 8, 2016, the State Department published its Annual Report of Immigrant Visa Applicants as of November 1, 2015, with the total number of immigrant visa applicants (i.e., principals, spouses, and children) who are subject to the annual numerical limits and whose cases are on file at the National Visa Center....

Given that it is still very early in the new fiscal year, the final action dates in the November Visa Bulletin are not surprising. If you were to compare the October 2016 against the Visa Bulletin against the November Visa Bulletin you would find that almost all of DOS's predictions have materialized, with a...

The U.S. Department of State (DOS) March 2016 Visa Bulletin shows advancement in the employment-based third preference (EB-3) worldwide category. The final action (FA) cutoff date in the employment-based second preference category for India also advances, but at a slower pace than in recent months. The EB-1 and EB-4 categories remain current in the...

The Department of State (DOS) recently released additional, more detailed information about how it calculates immigrant visa availability cut-off dates.

DOS explained that each month, its Visa Office subdivides the annual preference and foreign state limitations into monthly allotments based on totals of documentarily qualified immigrant visa applicants reported at consular posts and U.S....

An End to the China EB-2 to EB-3 Downgrade Phenomenon (at least for FY2015). In April 2015, the EB-3 China cut-off date (currently October 22, 2011) will retrogress more than nine months to January 1, 2011. As a result, EB-3 China will return to...

The following information is provided by the Visa Office regarding the cut-off dates for the month of September 2013.

FAMILY PREFERENCES

F1-Family first preference: Unmarried sons and daughters over the age of 21 years of U.S. Citizens. The cut-off date has moved forward by two (2) weeks for most of the countries including India to...

During a recent conversation with Charlie Oppenheim of the Department of State's Visa Office, the American Immigration Lawyers' Association (AILA) was provided the following information and updates regarding demand in the employment-based immigrant visa categories. Please note that these notes are based on Mr. Oppenheim's impressions at the time and are subject to change...