October 2012 Visa Bulletin – First Visa Bulletin for Fiscal Year: EB-2 India and China Available; EB-2 India Retrogresses to September 2004; EB-2 ROW Remains With a Cutoff Date

The U.S. State Department has just released the October 2012 Visa Bulletin which is the first Visa Bulletin for the FY2013 fiscal year.    The major headline in the upcoming month’s bulletin is the availability of a number of categories, including EB-2 India and China, in addition to the significant retrogression in the EB-2 India category to September 2004.

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

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

• EB-1 remains current across the board.
• EB-2 for ROW, Mexico and Philippines will have a cutoff date this month as well — but they all move forward by three (3) years to January 1, 2012.    EB-2 India is now available but with a severely retrogressed cutoff date of September 1, 2004 (expectations were to have a cutoff date of somewhere in 2006 or 2007).   EB-2 China is also available but with a cutoff date of July 15, 2007.
• EB-3 ROW and EB-3 Mexico move forward by three (3) weeks to October 22, 2006.  EB-3 Philippines remains unchanged at August 1, 2006, EB-3 China  moves forward by seven (7) weeks to February 8, 2006, while EB-3 India  moves forward by only one (1) week to October 15, 2002.
• The “other worker” category moves forward by three (3) weeks for ROW and Mexico to October 22, 2006.  It remains unchanged for Philippines at August 1, 2006, at June 22, 2003 for China.  It moves forward by one (1) week for India to October 15, 2002.

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

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

• FB-1 continues to move forward.  FB-1 ROW, China and India all move forward by only one (1) week  to October 8, 2005.   FB-1 Mexico moves forward by only one (1) week as well to June 15, 1993 and FB-1 Philippines moves forward by eighteen (18) months to April 1, 1996.
• FB-2A moves forward by three (3) weeks to June 1, 2010 for ROW, China, India, and Philippines.  FB-2A Mexico moves forward by one (1) month to May 15, 2010.
• FB-2B ROW, China and India remain unchanged at September 15, 2004.  FB-2B Mexico moves forward by five (5) weeks to October 1, 1992 while FB-2B Philippines moves forward by three (3) weeks to January 22, 2002.

EB-2 India Available but Severely Retrogressed Due to High Number of Filings

In the last few weeks, there has been much anticipation in the release of the October 2012 Visa Bulletin and specifically with respect to the EB-2 India and China dates.     Until a couple of weeks ago, indications were that the EB-2 India cutoff date would be set to somewhere in 2007.   However, over the past two weeks, the Department of State has decided to retrogress significantly EB-2 India to September 1, 2004 in an effort to “control” the demand of visas in this category (number of new I-485 filings) and to allow USCIS to work through the number of filed and pending I-485 applications in this category.

Based on the EB-2 India cutoff date, we expect that there will be slow and gradual forward movement in this category over the next few months.

EB-2 ROW Continues to Have a Cutoff Date;  May Become Current Over the Next Couple of Months

Additionally, the EB-2 ROW category continues to have a cutoff date.   It was advanced from January 1, 2009 to January 1, 2012, but it is still not “Current” as it was for many months until recently.   However, the Department of State has indicated that they expect EB-2 ROW to be “Current” over the next few months and to remain current until later in the fiscal year, depending on the level of demand in this category.

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 October 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.