September 2012 Visa Bulletin – Last Visa Bulletin for Fiscal Year: EB-2 India and China Remain Unavailable; EB-2 ROW Cutoff Date Unchanged at January 1, 2009

The U.S. State Department has just released the September 2012 Visa Bulletin which is the last Visa Bulletin for the FY2012 fiscal year.    The major headline in the upcoming month’s bulletin is the continued unavailability in the EB-2 India and China categories (which is expected to become available in next month’s visa bulletin), the unchanged cutoff date for EB-2 ROW and the fact that this is the last Visa Bulletin for the fiscal year.

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

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

• EB-1 remains current across the board.
• EB-2 for ROW, Mexico and Philippines continues (until October 1, 2012) to have a cutoff date of January 1, 2009.    EB-2 India and EB-2 China remain unavailable.
• EB-3 ROW and EB-3 Mexico move forward by three (3) weeks to October 1, 2006.  EB-3 Philippines moves forward by six (6) weeks to August 1, 2006, EB-3 China  moves forward by five (5) weeks to December 15, 2005, while EB-3 India  moves forward by only one (1) week to October 8, 2002.
• The “other worker” category moves forward by three (3) weeks for ROW and Mexico to October 1, 2006.  It moves forward by seven (7) weeks for Philippines to August 1, 2006, by one (1) week for China to June 22, 2003 and by one (1) week for India to October 8, 2002.

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

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

• FB-1 moves forward (again, for eleventh consecutive month).  FB-1 ROW, China and India all move forward by two (2) months to October 1, 2005.   FB-1 Mexico remains unchanged at June 8, 1993 and FB-1 Philippines moves forward (after a 32-month retrogression last month) by eight (8) months to November 8, 1994.
• FB-2A moves forward by seven (7) weeks to May 8, 2010 for ROW, China, India, and Philippines.  FB-2A Mexico moves forward by six (6) weeks to May 8, 2010.
• FB-2B ROW, China and India move forward by almost three (3) months to September 15, 2004.  FB-2B Mexico remains unchanged at August 22, 1992 while FB-2B Philippines also remains unchanged at January 1, 2002.

Continued Cutoff Date for EB-2 ROW Caused by High Demand In Filings

The introduction of a cutoff date for the EB-2 Rest of the World (ROW) category in the July Visa Bulletin came as a surprise to many, despite earlier indications by the Department of State has and our warnings of the possibility of cutoff dates in the EB-2 ROW category.   The cutoff date of January 1, 2009 for EB-2 ROW remains in this month’s Visa Bulletin.    This aggressive retrogression and the lack of movement this month suggest that the demand of EB-2 visas has been greater.  As expected, there was no movement in this category in this (last for the fiscal year) Visa Bulletin.   Fortunately, the EB-2 ROW category was not made “Unavailable” as EB-2 India and China — there was a possibility of this happening.

EB-2 India and China Remains Unavailable;  Availability Expected in October 2012 Visa Bulletin

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 September 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.