United States | May Visa Bulletin: No advancement in key categories; Final Action Dates to control filing eligibility

United States | May Visa Bulletin: No advancement in key categories; Final Action Dates to control filing eligibility

The U.S. State Department released the May Visa Bulletin on Tuesday, showing no advancement in key employment-based categories. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced that in May it will use Final Action Dates to determine filing eligibility.

Final Action Dates Movement:

EB-1

  • China EB-1 will remain at Sept. 1, 2022.
  • India EB-1 will remain at March 1, 2021.
  • All other countries under EB-1 will remain current.

EB-2

  • China EB-2 will remain at Feb. 1, 2020.
  • India EB-2 will remain at April 15, 2012.
  • All other countries under EB-2 will remain at Jan. 15, 2023.

EB-3

  • China EB-3 will remain at Sept. 1, 2020.
  • India EB-3 will remain at Aug. 15, 2012.
  • All other countries under EB-3 will remain at Nov. 22, 2022.

Final Action Dates for Employment-Based Preference Cases:

Preference All Other Countries China India Mexico Philippines
EB-1 Current Sept. 1, 2022 March 1, 2021 Current Current
EB-2 Jan. 15, 2023 Feb. 1, 2020 April 15, 2012 Jan. 15, 2023 Jan. 15, 2023
EB-3 Nov. 22, 2022 Sept. 1, 2020 Aug. 15, 2012 Nov. 22, 2022 Nov. 22, 2022

Additional Information: May will mark the third straight month that USCIS will use Final Action Dates to determine employment-based filing eligibility. The agency will continue to use Dates for Filing to determine family-based eligibility. May’s lack of movement was expected: The State Department noted in the April Visa Bulletin for employment-based categories, “Very little to no forward movement is expected in the coming months since the final action dates for many categories advanced for April 2024.” They also cautioned that the “final action date projections” indicate what is “likely to happen throughout Quarter Three and Quarter Four of FY24” and that readers “should never assume that recent trends in final action date movements are guaranteed for the future, or that retrogressions will not be required at some point to maintain number use within the applicable annual limits.”

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

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