U.S. Immigration Explained Blog

In the most recent EB (Employment Based) Visa Bulletin announcement by the DOS (Dept. of State), there are minor adjustments in the January 2009 dates from December’s report. EB2 dates for India and China moved up some. EB3 for China changed a somewhat. And India saw only a minor shift in dates.

As you can see by the chart, EB1 remains current and available for all countries.

The same is true in EB2, except for India and China. India’s cutoff date was advanced by a month to July 1, 2003. The cutoff date for China moved more than a month to July 8, 2004.

In the EB3 category, the cutoff date for “all other countries” and the Philippines remained at May 1, 2005. The date for Mexico slid forward over two months to November 15, 2002. The new date for China is now June 1, 2002. And India’s cutoff date is October 15, 2001, only slightly better than last time.

In the EB3 Other Worker category, all countries advanced to March 15, 2003.

All other categories remain current and available.

These cutoff dates are constantly adjusted due to the availability of visa numbers in the respective categories for each country. The demand simply is greater than the supply. It is primarily due to the I-485 (Adjustment of Status) cases whose priority dates are earlier than the original cutoff dates. When these cases are processed, it causes more demand. Increased demand makes DOS move the dates up, thus closing the window on more applicants.

Check back to this site often because the new dates are predicated on how many visas are applied for. Hence, there is no way to predict how the DOS will assign future cutoff dates. If you have questions about immigration issues, we advise you to confer with a qualified and up-to-date immigration attorney.

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