January 2016 Visa Bulletin: Further Advancement for the EB-2 India Final Action Date; Slight Advancements for Most Other Backlogged Categories

United States

According to the State Department’s January Visa Bulletin, the cutoff date for final issuance of an immigrant visa will advance by eight months for EB-2 India, to February 1, 2008, but will remain unchanged at February 1, 2012 for EB-2 China. In all other backlogged employment-based preference categories, cutoff dates for final action will advance modestly.  

There will be no advancement in cutoff dates for eligibility to file an application for permanent residence for China or India in the EB-2 and EB-3 categories, or for EB-3 Philippines. For all other countries, EB-3 filing eligibility cutoff dates will advance by four months.  

In the EB-5 category, the China final action cutoff date will advance by three weeks for the non-Regional Center program, to January 8, 2014. Immigrant visas will be unavailable for the EB-5 Regional Center program until it is reauthorized by Congress, as is expected in the coming days.  Once the program is reauthorized, the cutoff date for China will be January 8, 2014; all other countries will be current. The filing eligibility date for EB-5 China will not advance in January, remaining at May 1, 2015.  

Within the next few days, USCIS is expected to determine whether it will accept adjustment of status applications from foreign nationals with a priority date that makes them eligible to file in January.  The agency will make an announcement on its own Visa Bulletin web page. 

EMPLOYMENT-BASED PRIORITY DATE CUTOFFS FOR JANUARY 2016

This alert is for informational purposes only. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the immigration professional with whom you work at Fragomen.

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