November 2011 Visa Bulletin – EB-2 India and China Advance by Three and a Half Months; Slow Movement in EB-3; FB1 Advances Again; Moderate Movement in FB2A

The U.S. State Department just released the November 2011 Visa Bulletin which is the second Visa Bulletin for the FY2012 fiscal year.    The major headline in the upcoming month’s bulletin is the significant forward movement in EB-2 India and China and the forward movement in FB1.

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

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

• EB-1 remains current across the board.
• EB-2 remains current for EB-2 ROW, Mexico and Philippines.   EB-2 India and EB-2 China both move forward by three and a half (3.5) months to November 1, 2007.
• EB-3 ROW, EB-3 Mexico and EB-3 Philippines move forward by only two (2) weeks to December 22, 2005, EB-3 China  moves forward by two (2) weeks to August 22, 2004, while EB-3 India  moves forward by only one (1) week to July 22, 2002.
• The “other worker” category remains unchanged (again) at  April 22, 2003 for China.  It moves forward by two (2) months for ROW, Mexico and Philippines to November 15, 2005.  It also moves forward by one (1) week for India to June 15, 2002.

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

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

• FB1 moves forward (again, for second month).  FB1 ROW, China and India all move forward by five (5) weeks to July 22, 2004.   FB1 Mexico moves forward by one (1) week to April 1, 1993 and FB1 Philippines moves forward by one (1) month to February 8, 1997.
• FB2A moves forward by five (5) weeks to February 15, 2009 for ROW, China, India, and Philippines.  FB2A Mexico moves forward by six (6) weeks to December 1, 2008.
• FB2B ROW, China and India move forward by two (2) weeks to August 1, 2003.  FB2B Mexico remains unchanged at November 22, 1992.  FB2B Philippines moves forward by ten (10) weeks to July 15, 2001.

Substantial Movement in EB-2 India and China Continues;  Slow Movement  for EB-3; Finally (for Second Month) Forward Movement in FB1

One of the major headlines this month, in the second Visa Bulletin for the Fiscal Year 2012 is the continued substantial forward movement in EB-2 India and China.    The slow movement across EB-3 continues, unfortunately.

We see continued forward movement in the FB1 category which, for several months, had not changed.   Although the movement is only of five weeks, it is still a notable movement, especially when added to the five week movement in the October 2011 Visa Bulletin.   We continue to see the FB2A category move forward, although by not as much as we saw for the last few months and after the significant retrogression during the months before.

EB-2 China and India Predictions

The November 2011 Visa Bulletin provides some general observations on the expected forward movement in the EB-2 China and EB-2 India categories.   While the significant advancement in these two categories over the past few months is expected to generate significant demand, the expectation, as of now, is that there may be more significant cutoff date movements in the future.   According to the State Department, such movements may not be on a monthly basis and should not be expected to last throughout the next fiscal year.  If the number of filings indicates high demand for EB-2 China and India, a retrogression is possible.

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 November 2011 Visa Bulletin.  Finally, if you already haven’t, please consider our Visa Bulletin Predictions tool which provides personalized predictions and charts helping you understand when a particular priority date may become current and what are the movement patterns.