October Visa Bulletin: What to Expect and Visa Projections with Charles Oppenheim

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In this post, we would like to keep our readers informed about Visa Bulletin projections for the month of October. Charles Oppenheim, Chief of the Visa Control and Reporting Division of the U.S. Department of State provides a monthly analysis of each month’s Visa Bulletin including discussion of current trends and future projections for immigrant preference categories.

Below are the highlights of those trends and projections:

Check-in with DOS’s Charlie Oppenheim: October 2017

EB-1 China and EB-1 India.  Good news for EB-1 China and EB-1 India. Both employment categories are expected to become current in the month of October. The imposition of a final action date is expected until the summer of 2018.

EB-2 Worldwide. Similarly, EB-2 Worldwide is expected to become current beginning October 1, 2017 through to the foreseeable future.

EB-2 India.  EB-2 India is experiencing and will continue to experience slow movement of a few weeks at a time. A final action date may be expected between January and April 2018. If a final action date is imposed EB-2 India will advance to a date in December 2008. This will largely depend on the level of EB-3 upgrade demand. Alternatively, it is possible for the final action date for this category to advance to a date in 2009 during the second half of fiscal year 2018.

EB-2 and EB-3 China. Downgrades are expected for EB-3 China. EB-3 China is expected to move ahead of the final action date for EB-2 China in the month of October. EB-2 China will fare better in October likely advancing to a 3-6-week pace per month over the next fiscal year.

EB-3 Worldwide.  The EB-3 Worldwide final action date is likely to remain current in October, absent significant demand materializing within the next few weeks.

EB-3 India. Good news for EB-3 India. This category is expected to continue to advance at a pace of several weeks at a time.

No projections were provided for family-based preference categories for the month of October.

To access the visa bulletin click here.

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