September Visa Bulletin: Significant retrogression as fiscal year ends

Priority-date cutoffs for most employment-based categories based on “Final Action Dates”  will retrogress significantly in September, the final month of fiscal year 2018, according to the State Department’s September 2018 Visa Bulletin released today. A priority-date cutoff has been imposed on EB-2 and EB-3 categories for several countries that were current as of August. This follows the imposition of a priority-date cutoff in August on EB-1 categories for El Salvador/Guatemala/Honduras, Mexico, the Philippines, Vietnam and All Other Chargeability Areas because of extremely high demand.

The number of visas are typically depleted at the end of the fiscal year and priority-date cutoffs retrogress before new immigrant visa quotas are available in October.

Key movements:

• The priority-date cutoff for EB-1 China and EB-1 India will remain at Jan. 1, 2012, where it has been since the date was imposed in April 2018.
• EB-1 for El Salvador/Guatemala/Honduras, Mexico, the Philippines and All Other Chargeability Areas will advance one month to June 1, 2016.
• China EB-2 will retrogress two years and two months to Jan. 1, 2013, and India EB-2 will retrogress more than two years and two months to Jan. 1, 2007.
• In the remaining EB-2 categories, a priority date cutoff of Jan. 1, 2013 has been imposed on El Salvador/Guatemala/Honduras, Mexico, the Philippines, Vietnam and All Other Chargeability Areas, which were current until August.
• In the EB-3 categories, China EB-3 will advance four months to Nov. 1, 2014 and India EB-3 will retrogress by six years to Jan. 1, 2003. For the EB-3 category for all other countries, the priority-date cutoff of Nov. 1, 2016 has been imposed. All countries besides China, India and the Philippines were current as of August.

Additional notes: In the coming months, the EB-1 category for all countries will have cutoff dates imposed in October and is expected see limited, if any, forward movement before December.

It is likely that cutoff priority dates in the EB-2 and EB-3 categories for September are being imposed to control the number of visas issued between now and the end of September. After September, the EB-2 category for all countries except China and India are expected to be current for the foreseeable future, and the EB-3 category for all countries except China, India and the Philippines is expected to be current.

Application Final Action Dates for Employment-Based Preference Cases:

The State Department also released its Dates for Filing chart for September. Applicants seeking to file for adjustment of status are reminded that the chart does not take effect unless U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) confirms that it does via a web posting in the coming days. BAL will update clients once the State Department confirms whether the chart can be used in September. In August USCIS used the Final Action Dates for Employment-Based cases, and is likely to use that chart for the September numbers as well.

This alert has been provided by the BAL U.S. Practice group. For additional information, please contact berryapplemanleiden@bal.com.

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