May 2012 Visa Bulletin – EB-2 India and China Retrogress to August 15, 2007; Possibility for EB-2 India and China to Become “Unavailable” and for EB-2 ROW Cutoff Date

The U.S. State Department has just released the May 2012 Visa Bulletin which is the eighth Visa Bulletin for the FY2012 fiscal year.    The major headline in the upcoming month’s bulletin is the significant retrogression in EB-2 India and China, the continued forward movement in FB-1, the possibility of a cutoff date for EB-2 ROW and the possibility that EB-2 India and China would become unavailable for the rest of the fiscal year.

Summary of the May 2012 Visa Bulletin – Employment-Based (EB)

Below is a summary of the May 2012 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 back, or retrogress, by two years and nine and a half months to August 15, 2007.
• EB-3 ROW, EB-3 Mexico and EB-3 Philippines move forward by only three (3) weeks to May 1, 2006, EB-3 China  moves forward by one (1) month to April 1, 2006, while EB-3 India  moves forward by only one (1) week to September 8, 2002.
• The “other worker” category remains unchanged (again) at  April 22, 2003 for China.  It moves forward by three (3) weeks for ROW, Mexico and Philippines to May 1, 2006.  It also moves forward by one (1) week for India to September 8, 2002.

Summary of the May 2012 Visa Bulletin – Family-Based (FB)

Below is a summary of the May 2012 Visa Bulletin with respect to family-based petitions:

• FB-1 moves forward (again, for eighth consecutive month).  FB-1 ROW, China and India all move forward by one (1) month to May 1, 2005.   FB-1 Mexico moves forward by one (1) week to May 15, 1993 and FB-1 Philippines moves forward by one (1) week to July 1, 1997.
• FB-2A moves forward by five  (5) weeks to November 15, 2009 for ROW, China, India, and Philippines.  FB-2A Mexico moves forward by six (6) weeks to October 15, 2009.
• FB-2B ROW, China and India move forward by five (5) weeks to February 22, 2004.  FB-2B Mexico remains unchanged at December 1, 1992 and FB-2B Philippines remains unchanged at December 8, 2001.

Retrogression in EB-2 India and China Caused by High Demand/Number of Filings; No Forward Movement Expected Until at Least October 2012; Slow Movement  for EB-3; Continued Forward Movement in FB-1

One of the major headlines this month, in the eighth Visa Bulletin for the Fiscal Year 2012 is the retrogression in the EB-2 India and China cutoff dates — all the way back to August 15, 2007.   Although this retrogression should not come as a surprise to our clients and readers who may have seen our repeated alerts over the past few weeks, the retrogression would certainly cause disappointment to many I-485 Indian or Chinese applicants.

Unfortunately, the number of filings and our predictions for the Visa Bulletins for the rest of the year (see below) suggest that there should not be any forward movement expected in EB-2 India and China for the rest of the fiscal year (until the October 2012 Visa Bulletin).   At the same time, EB-3 continues steady (but slow) forward movement, especially EB-3 India which has been advancing by only one week per month for months.  EB-3 India is expected to continue its (very) slow movement.

This Visa Bulletin also shows continued forward movement in the FB-1 category which has been moving steadily for the past several months.    We continue to see the FB-2A 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 India and China:  USCIS to Continue Accepting I-485 Applications for Adjustment of Status; Pending I-485 Will be Preadjudicated

Despite this retrogression in the EB-2 India and China categories,  USCIS will continue to accept for the rest of the month of April new I-485 applications for adjustment of status for Indian and Chinese nationals with priority dates prior to the date established in the April 2012 Visa Bulletin.

Those filed and pending I-485 cases with priority dates of August 15, 2007, or later, should not see any approvals over the next few months.   Instead, those cases will be processed by USCIS to the point of approval (pre-adjudicated) and a request for a visa number will be forwarded to Visa Control at the Department of State to be held in a “pending” file until new visas are available beginning with FY2013 on October 1, 2012.

Visa Bulletin Cutoff Date Predictions

The May 2012 Visa Bulletin also provides some predictions on the movement of the cutoff dates for the next few months (presumably for the rest of the fiscal year).

Employment-based Categories

• EB-1 – expected to remain current;
• EB-2 ROW – there is a potential that EB-2 ROW  may require a cutoff to be established due to decrease in the number of available visa numbers for the fiscal year;
• EB-2 India and China – no forward movement, possibility to become “Unavailable,” effectively stopping all approvals for EB-2 India and China immigrant cases;
• EB-3 ROW – three to five weeks at a time;
• EB-3 China – up to six weeks;
• EB-3 India – up to two weeks; and
• EB-3 Mexico and Philippines – up to five weeks.

Family-based Categories

• FB-1 – four to six weeks at a time;
• FB-2A – up to two and half months;
• FB-2B – three to six weeks;
• FB-3 – three to six weeks; and
• FB-4 – three to five weeks.

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 May 2012 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.