Green Card Visa Number Update

[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 from the Department of State recently shared the latest update on the availability of various immigrant visa (aka green card) preference categories, both family-based and employment-based. Please refer to our blog Surprise! The July Visa bulletin for a summary of how visa numbers are allocated.The First Employment-Based category (EB-1) is presently “current” (i.e. green cards are immediately available) for nationals of all countries. Charlie reported that a final action cut-off date will likely need to be imposed later this fiscal year for EB-1 for Indian and Chinese nationals, but otherwise this category would remain current.The Second Employment-Based category (EB-2) is also “current” for all country nationals except India and China. Charlie anticipates that a final action cut-off date will be imposed for the “worldwide” category (nationals of all countries other than China, El Salvador, India, Mexico, and the Philippines) due to the increased demand. There is unlikely to be any major forward movement of visa number availability for Chinese nationals in the EB-2 category in the foreseeable future. Charlie is hopeful that EB-2 visa numbers for Indian nationals will improve to a final action date of November 22, 2008, as it was in May 2015 (the final action date is currently set at February 1, 2008).The Third Employment-Based category (EB-3) continues to have a long wait for nationals of China, India and the Philippines.  EB-3 “worldwide” demand has declined recently, which will likely result in more visa number availability in this category in January 2017 (it is presently available for petitions filed before July 1, 2016). However, Charlie predicts that when EB-2 “worldwide” becomes subject to a final action cut-off date, we may see greater demand for the EB-3 category by “worldwide” nationals, sparking a situation where the final action dates for EB-2 and EB-3 may become close (as has recently been the case for Chinese nationals).Over the past year, Charlie has reported that demand for visa numbers has increased significantly across most categories. It remains to be seen what impact the President-elect and a new administration may have on the level of visa number demand, or even the allocation of visa numbers generally. We continually monitor visa number availability and will also keep abreast of any government policy changes and advise clients of any impact on their immigration matters.[/fusion_text][/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]