June 2011 Visa Bulletin – EB-2 India and China Advance; FB1 and FB2B Unchanged

The U.S. State Department just released the June 2011 Visa Bulletin which is the ninth Visa Bulletin for the FY2011 fiscal year.    The major headline in the upcoming month’s bulletin is the forward movement in EB-2 India and the continued (but slow) slow forward movement in FB2A (after few significant backward movements).

Summary of the June 2011 Visa Bulletin – Employment-Based (EB)

Below is a summary of the June 2011 Visa Bulletin with respect to employment-based petitions:

  • EB-1 remains current across the board.
  • EB-2 ROW (Rest of World), Mexico and Philippines remain current, EB-2 China moves forward by two and a half  (2.5) months to October 15, 2006, while EB-2 India moves forward (again, after last month’s notable 7-week advancement) by three and a half (3.5) months to October 15, 2006.
  • EB-3 ROW and EB-3 Philippines move forward by three (3) weeks to September 15, 2005, EB-3 China  moves forward by one (1) month to May 15, 2004, while EB-3 India  moves forward by one (1) week to April 22, 2002.  EB-3 Mexico moves forward by three (3) months to December 22, 2004.
  • The “other worker” category remains unchanged at  April 22, 2003 for China.  It moves forward by two (2) months to November 8, 2003 for ROW, Mexico and Philippines.  It moves forward by one  (1) week to April 22, 2002 for India .

Summary of the June 2011 Visa Bulletin – Family-Based (FB)

Below is a summary of the June 2011 Visa Bulletin with respect to family-based petitions:

  • FB1 ROW, China and India remain unchanged at May 1, 2004.  FB1 Mexico also remains unchanged at March 1, 1993.  FB1 Philippines moves forward by seven (7) months to February 22, 1996.
  • FB2A moves forward by ten (10) weeks to August 22, 2007 for ROW, China, India, and Philippines.  FB2A Mexico moves forward by six (6) months to July 22, 2007.
  • FB2B ROW, China and India remain (again) unchanged at April 15, 2003.  FB2B Mexico moves forward by three (3) weeks to August 22, 1992.  FB2B Philippines moves forward by three (3) months to June 8, 2000.

Slow Movement  for Employment-based Petitions, Except EB-2 India and EB-2 China; No (or Minor) Movement in Family-based Priority Dates

The slow forward movement across many employment categories continues, as expected, although we have started seeing notable movement in the EB-2 India and EB-2 China categories after many months of no activity (especially for EB-2 India).  The EB-2 India and EB-2 China movement is due to the carryover of visa numbers from the EB-1 category (also see note below).    Unfortunately, EB-3 India moved forward by only one  week (the same as during the previous visa bulletin).

We continue to see the FB2A category move forward (by two months and a half months), after the significant retrogression over the past several months.  We wish to reiterate that the forward movement in FB2A is expected to be slow over the next  few months, according to indications from the State Department.   Unfortunately, due to strong demand, FB1 category remains unchanged, for a second month in a row, after it retrogressed by 8 months during the April 2011 Visa Bulletin.  This is due to heavy demand in the FB1 category which is expected to continue and further lack of movement (or backward movement) in FB1 is possible.

Visa Bulletin Notes on EB-2 India and Family-based Cases

EB-2 India.  It is important to note that the movement in EB-2 India, while notable, is an attempt by the State Department to estimate the demand in this category because the number of applicants who may be “upgrading” or “porting” their priority date from EB-3 India to EB-3 India is unknown.  Accordingly, the State Department is trying to advance the dates faster than normal to evaluate the demand and, if the demand is high, the EB-2 movement may slow or even retrogress.
Family-based.  The extremely high level of demand during the first few months of FY-2011 resulted in the retrogression of most worldwide cut-off dates in January or February.  While most of these cut-offs have begun to advance slowly, heavy demand in the Family First preference has caused a further retrogression for May.  At this time it is not possible to predict the rate of forward movement, but some movement is anticipated in most categories for the remainder of the fiscal year.

Further Updates and News

We invite you to subscribe to our free weekly immigration newsletter to receive timely updates on this and related topics.  We also invite you to contact us if our office can be of any assistance in your immigration matters or you have any questions or comments about the June 2011 Visa Bulletin.  Finally, if you already haven’t, please consider our Visa Bulletin Predictions tool which provides personalized predictions on when a particular priority date may become current.

By | Last Updated: May 20th, 2017| Categories: Articles, News, Visa Bulletin|

About the Author: Dimo Michailov

Dimo Michailov
Dimo has over 15 years of experience in US immigration including employment-based immigration benefits, corporate compliance and family based immigration. He represents corporate and individual clients in a wide range of cross-border immigration matters including mobility of key foreign executives and managers, specialized knowledge workers, and foreign nationals with extraordinary ability.

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The Capitol Immigration Law Group has been serving the business community for over 15 years and is one of the most widely respected immigration law firms focused solely on U.S. employment-based immigration.   Disclaimer:  we make all efforts to provide timely and accurate information; however, the information in this article may become outdated or may not be applicable to a specific set of facts.  It is not to be construed as legal advice.