U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has announced that in October it will follow the State Department’s Dates for Filing chart, as published in the October Visa Bulletin, to determine whether applicants are eligible to file for adjustment of status.

The Dates for Filing chart contains more progressive cutoff dates that will allow many applicants to file for adjustment of status significantly earlier than the Final Action Dates that normally control filing eligibility. For example, the EB-1 category for all countries except China and India has a Dates for Filing priority-date cutoff of June 1, 2018 compared to April 1, 2017 under the Final Action Dates chart. Applicants with priority dates earlier than the dates listed in the chart below will be permitted to file their applications for adjustment of status in October.

Dates for Filing for Employment-Based Preference Cases:

Preference China El Salvador Guatemala Honduras India Mexico Philippines All Other Countries
EB-1 Oct. 1, 2017 June 1, 2018 Oct. 1, 2017 June 1, 2018 June 1, 2018 June 1, 2018
EB-2 June 15, 2015 Current May 22, 2009 Current Current Current
EB-3 Aug. 8, 2015 Current Oct. 1, 2009 Current July 1, 2017 Current

Family-based immigrants will also use the Dates for Filing chart applicable to family-sponsored immigrants, which was also published in the October Visa Bulletin.

BAL Analysis: Adjustment-of-status applicants who are eligible to file in October should prepare to file as soon as possible. USCIS’ adoption of the Dates for Filing chart in October is positive news for many employment-based immigrants who would otherwise not be eligible to file, in particular EB-1 executives who have recently experienced backlogs due to high demand.

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

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