June 2013 Visa Bulletin – EB-2 India Remains Unchanged at September 1, 2004; Significant Forward Movement in EB-3

Summary of the June 2013 Visa Bulletin – Employment-Based (EB)

Below is a summary of the June 2013 Visa Bulletin with respect to employment-based petitions:

• EB-1 remains current across the board.
• EB-2 for ROW, Mexico and Philippines are all current.    EB-2 India remains unchanged, again, at (the severely retrogressed) September 1, 2004.   EB-2 China moves forward by two (2) months to July 15, 2008.
• EB-3 ROW, China and Mexico move forward by nine (9) months to September 1,  2008.  EB-3 Philippines moves forward by only one (1) week to September 22, 2006, while EB-3 India  moves forward by only two (2) weeks to January 8, 2003.
• The “other worker” category moves forward by nine (9) months for ROW and Mexico to September 1, 2008.  It moves forward by one (1) week to September 22, 2006 for Philippines and moves forward by seven (7) weeks to October 22, 2003 for China.  It moves forward by two (2) weeks for India to January 8, 2003.

Summary of the June 2013 Visa Bulletin – Family-Based (FB)

Below is a summary of the June 2013 Visa Bulletin with respect to family-based petitions:

• FB-1 continues to move forward, although slowly.  FB-1 ROW, China and India all move forward by three (3) weeks to April 22, 2006.   FB-1 Mexico moves forward by only one (1) week to August 15, 1993 and FB-1 Philippines moves forward by seven (7) months to January 1, 2000.
• FB-2A moves forward by three (3) months to June 8, 2011  for ROW, China, India, and Philippines.  FB-2A Mexico moves forward by three (3) months to May 8, 2011.
• FB-2B ROW, China and India all move forward by seven (7) weeks to July 8, 2005.  FB-2B Mexico moves forward by six (6) weeks to June 15, 1993 while FB-2B Philippines moves forward by seven (7) weeks to November 1, 2002.

Again: No Progress in EB-2 India – Confirms Our Expectations for a Very Slow Forward Movement in the Future?

Unfortunately, the June 2013 Visa Bulletin does not bring any news for us to report in connection with EB-2 India.   Yes, we realize we are repeating what we have been reporting over the past several months, but again this month the EB-2 India cutoff dates remain unchanged.     We are into the last quarter of the fiscal year, and the continued lack of any movement in EB-2 India this month is a strong indication that there is simply too high of a demand in the EB-2 India category and that the Department of State would move the cutoff dates forward very slowly in order to allow USCIS to approve the (high) number of EB-2 cases filed and pending.

The June 2013 Visa Bulletin brings some notable forward movement in the EB-3 category for most countries.    According to the State Department, this has been done in an attempt to generate demand so that the annual numerical limits may be fully utilized, and such movements may continue for the next few months.   Once the number of EB-3 filings increases to show that the available visa numbers for the year will  be utilized, the EB-3 forward movement would slow down or stop.   Since the last two months have advanced the EB-3 dates significantly, resulting in a high demand, it is possible to see slowdown in the EB-3 movement in the next few months.

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 2013 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.