Articles Posted in Visa Bulletin Priority Dates

Following our recent update on retrogression, we have the following news: Charlie Oppenheim, Chief, Immigrant Visa Control & Reporting in the State Department, provided AILA with further information on priority date movement in the EB-2 category for China-mainland born and India for the remainder of FY2012.

When the May Visa Bulletin is published, the China and India EB-2 cut-off will retrogress to August 15, 2007. Demand is still increasing at a very high rate and must be checked to maintain numbers for natives of other countries. As for projections for the remainder of the year, it is too early to predict movement.

USCIS has informed Mr. Oppenheim that they will continue to “preadjudicate” adjustment applications received through April. The “preadjudicated” cases will be held by the State Department in the “pending” demand file.

On March 16, 2012, at the AILA Midwest Regional Conference in Chicago, Charlie Oppenheim, Chief, Visa Control and Reporting at DOS, informed participants that he will likely retrogress India and China-mainland born Employment-Based Second Preference priority dates to around August 2007, effective with either the May or June 2012 Visa Bulletin. He also advised that he projects that all EB-1 visas available in FY2012 will be used this year, resulting in no “spilldown” to EB-2.

Congress sets limits on the number of immigrant visas that can be issued each year. In order to adjust status to that of legal permanent resident, an immigrant visa must be available to the applicant both at the time of filing and at the time of adjudication. The Department of State publishes a monthly Visa Bulletin which lists the cut-off dates that govern visa availability. Therefore, the monthly Visa Bulletin determines which applicants are eligible to file for adjustment of status, as well as which applicants are eligible for a grant of permanent resident status. Applicants who have a priority date earlier than the cut-off date published in the most current Visa Bulletin are eligible to apply for permanent residence.

The cut-off dates on the Department of State Visa Bulletin are adjusted monthly and are posted on its website at http://travel.state.gov. This adjustment is determined by the Department of State after consideration of a number of variables such as: