March Visa Bulletin: Priority date cutoffs move back with switch to Final Action Dates

The U.S. State Department released the March Visa Bulletin Friday, showing little movement in the employment-based Final Action Dates and Dates for Filing charts. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced that in March it will use Final Action Dates to determine filing eligibility.

Because Dates for Filing are generally more progressive, the switch to Final Action Dates means that priority date cutoffs will move back next month—and fewer applicants will be eligible to file for employment-based green cards.

When comparing February’s Dates for Filing chart to March’s Final Action Date chart, the movement of cutoffs for being eligible to file for employment-based green cards is as follows:

EB-1

• China EB-1 will move back 5½ months to July 15, 2022.
• India EB-1 will move back three months to Oct. 10, 2020.
• All other countries under EB-1 will remain current.

EB-2

• China EB-2 will move back five months to Jan. 1, 2020.
• India EB-2 will move back 2½ months to March 1, 2012.
• All other countries under EB-2 will move back nearly three months to Nov. 22, 2022.

EB-3

• China EB-3 will move back 10 months to Sept. 1, 2020.
• India EB-3 will move back one month to July 1, 2012.
• Philippines EB-3 will move back almost four months to Sept. 8, 2022.
• All other countries under EB-3 will move back almost five months to Sept. 8, 2022.

Final Action Dates for Employment-Based Preference Cases:

Additional Information: The March Visa Bulletin and the switch to Final Action Dates come after employment-based priority date cutoffs advanced in key categories in January and saw no movement in February. This is the first time this fiscal year that USCIS has used the Final Action Dates to determine filing eligibility for employment-based applicants. USCIS will continue using the Dates for Filing chart to determine family-based filing eligibility next month.

This alert has been provided by the BAL U.S. Practice Group.

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