October 2010 Visa Bulletin – First Bulletin for the Fiscal Year: Minor Forward Movement

The U.S. State Department just released the October 2010 Visa Bulletin which is the first Visa Bulletin for the new FY2011 fiscal year.   As always, the first Visa Bulletin for the fiscal year is anticipated to suggest possible trends of movement of the visa numbers over the next months, especially following the past Visa Bulletins’ forward movement.

Summary of the October 2010 Visa Bulletin – Employment-Based (EB)

Below is a summary of the October 2010 Visa Bulletin with respect to employment-based petitions:

• EB-1 remains current across the board.
• EB-2 ROW (Rest of World) remains current, EB-2 China moves forward by only two (2) weeks to May 22, 2006, while EB-2 India remains unchanged at May 8, 2006.
• EB-3 ROW moves forward by three (3) weeks to January 8, 2005, EB-3 China  moves forward by three (3) weeks to November 8, 2003, while EB-3 India  moves forward by two (2) weeks to January 15, 2002.  EB-3 Mexico is now available at April 22, 2001 and EB-3 Philippines moves forward by three (3) weeks to January 8, 2005.
• The “other worker” category remains unchanged at March 22, 2003 for ROW and China and moves forward by two weeks to January 15, 2002 for India.  Mexico is now available at April 22, 2001 and the Philippines remains unchanged at March 22, 2003.

Summary of the October 2010 Visa Bulletin – Family-Based (FB)

Below is a summary of the October 2010 Visa Bulletin with respect to family-based petitions:

• FB1 ROW, China and India move forward by six (6) weeks to February 15, 2006, while FB1 Mexico moves forward by two (2) weeks only to December 15, 1992.
• FB2A ROW, China, India and Philippines move forward by four (4) months to April 1, 2010, while FB2A Mexico moves forward by one year to January 1, 2010.
• FB2B ROW, China and India move forward four (4) months to April 1, 2005, while FB2B Mexico moves forward by only one (1) week to June 22, 1992.

Forward Movement Continues

The forward movement across many employment and family-based categories continues.  With respect to employment-based petitions, however, the forward movement is fairly small, often only by one or two weeks.  The forward movement in family-based petitions is notable in many cases – four months for many categories.   It is early to make predictions about the movement of the visa numbers over the next fiscal year solely on the basis of the first Visa Bulletin for FY2011.  A positive development, however, is the continued forward movement, albeit small for some categories.

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