Employment-based Visa Bulletin News

[fusion_builder_container hundred_percent="no" equal_height_columns="no" menu_anchor="" hide_on_mobile="small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility" class="" id="" background_color="" background_image="" background_position="center center" background_repeat="no-repeat" fade="no" background_parallax="none" parallax_speed="0.3" video_mp4="" video_webm="" video_ogv="" video_url="" video_aspect_ratio="16:9" video_loop="yes" video_mute="yes" overlay_color="" video_preview_image="" border_size="" border_color="" border_style="solid" padding_top="" padding_bottom="" padding_left="" padding_right=""][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type="1_1" layout="1_1" background_position="left top" background_color="" border_size="" border_color="" border_style="solid" border_position="all" spacing="yes" background_image="" background_repeat="no-repeat" padding_top="" padding_right="" padding_bottom="" padding_left="" margin_top="0px" margin_bottom="0px" class="" id="" animation_type="" animation_speed="0.3" animation_direction="left" hide_on_mobile="small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility" center_content="no" last="no" min_height="" hover_type="none" link=""][fusion_text]Charles ("Charlie") Oppenheim, Chief of the Visa Control and Reporting Division, U.S. Department of State, recently sat down for his regular chat with the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) to discuss current trends and future projections for the various immigrant preference categories.Each month, the Department of State determines the cut-off dates for each of the preference categories for applicants waiting to become eligible to apply for U.S. permanent residence (green card). Please refer to our July 2015 Visa Bulletin blog for an overview of how the monthly Visa Bulletin works.The Department of State’s February and more recently released March Visa Bulletins reveal significant movement in some preference categories for employment-based green cards.EB-2 India advanced to August 1, 2008 in February and will advance further to October 15, 2008 from March 1. The significant recent forward movement in this preference category is the result of a combination of less demand in the category than expected and a desire to advance dates more aggressively early in the year in an effort to complete cases and use available visa numbers within the government’s fiscal year. However, Charlie warned that recent discussions with US Immigration lead him to believe that movement may slow in the cut-off date for EB-2 India in coming months as the rate of demand is anticipated to increase again.EB-2 China continued to lag behind EB-3 China in February and the gap will widen slightly in March with the EB-2 China cut-off date from March 1 set at August 1, 2012 and EB-3 China set at June 1, 2013. The surge in EB-2 demand seems to be abating, while EB-3 China continues to experience low demand. Eventually, Charlie expects the two preference categories to balance, a trend that has occurred over the past couple of years.EB-2 worldwide demand is slightly lower than it has been recently and green cards for those applicants in this preference category will remain immediately available in March. Meanwhile, EB-3 worldwide also continues to experience low demand, resulting in continued forward movement in the cut-off date to January 1, 2016 this coming March.The cut-off date for EB-3 Philippines will also advance slightly in March from 8 January, 2008 to 15 March, 2008. There has been some frustration with the continued backlog and little movement in priority dates in this preference category in recent years. Charlie reported that the number of available green cards used for EB-3 Philippines is fairly reasonable for this point in the year and that recent "lag time" does not seem to have resulted in a lack of demand. Watch this space!Dayzad Law Offices regularly tracks eligibility for our existing clients who are waiting patiently to apply for U.S. permanent residence, and will continue to monitor preference category movements and trends as they arise.[/fusion_text][/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]