December 2013 Visa Bulletin – EB-2 India Major Retrogression; EB-3 ROW Moves Forward by a Year; No Movement for FB-2A

The U.S. State Department has just released the December 2013 Visa Bulletin which is the third Visa Bulletin for the FY2014 fiscal year.   The major headline in the upcoming month’s Visa Bulletin is the major (over 3.5 years) retrogression in EB-2 India, the significant (1 year) forward movement for EB-3 ROW and the fact that FB-2A remains unchanged with a (relatively) recent cutoff date.

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

Below is a summary of the December 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 retrogresses, as we anticipated, by three years and seven months to November 15, 2004.  EB-2 China moves forward by one (1) month to November 8, 2008.
• EB-3 ROW, China and Mexico move forward by one (1) year (not a typo!) to October 1, 2011.  EB-3 Philippines moves forward by three (3) weeks to January 8, 2007, while EB-3 India  retrogresses by three (3) weeks back to September 1, 2003.
• The “other worker” moves forward by one (1) year to October 1, 2011 for ROW, China and Mexico.  It moves forward by three (3) weeks to January 7, 2007 for Philippines and retrogresses by three (3) weeks back to September 1, 2003 for India.

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

Below is a summary of the December 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 November 15, 2006.   FB-1 Mexico remains unchanged at September 22, 1993 and FB-1 Philippines also remains unchanged at July 1, 2001.
• FB-2A remains unchanged (again) for all nationalities.  All categories (FB-2A ROW, China, India, Mexico and Philippines) continue to have a cutoff date of September 8, 2013.
• FB-2B ROW, China and India all move forward by five (5) weeks to May 1, 2006.  FB-2B Mexico remains unchanged at April 1, 1994 while FB-2B Philippines moves forward by three (3) weeks to March 22, 2003.

Not Good News for EB India:  Major Retrogression Hits EB-2 India; EB-3 India Also Moves Back

A couple of weeks ago, our office shared in detail our expectations that there would be a major retrogression in EB-2 India.      The December 2013 Visa Bulletin shows that our expectations were absolutely correct even though many of our EB India clients and readers would be disappointed by this news.     We expect that EB-2 India would remain severely retrogressed for at least several months (perhaps until Summer 2014).   The rationale behind this severe retrogression in EB-2 India is that there is simply too much “demand” (number of pending cases caused by I-485 filings and EB-3 to EB-2 porting cases, plus adding dependents) in this category and the Visa Office has to stop the rate of new filings until USCIS and DOS are able to approve the pending cases and “clear the demand.”

EB-3 ROW Moves Forward Significantly By One Year

In contrast to EB India, we note that EB-3 ROW moves forward very significantly – by one year from October 2010 to October 1, 2011.   This is a very significant movement and would help many EB-3 ROW applicants who are waiting for a visa number to either file their I-485 adjustment of status applications or process their immigrant visa at the U.S. Consulate abroad.

FB-2A Remains Unchanged

Another notable development (or lack thereof) is the fact that FB-2A cutoff date remains unchanged, after the introduction of a cutoff date in the October 2013 Visa Bulletin.   We expected the October 2013 FB-2A cutoff date to be introduced and the fact that it remains unchanged is not surprising since it appears that USCIS and the Department of State have seen increased number of filings in this category.

Visa Bulletin Predictions – Employment-Based

The December 2013 Visa Bulletin also provides a general estimate on the movement of the cutoff dates over the next months.

EB-1.   This category is expected to remain current throughout the fiscal year.

EB-2 Rest of World (ROW).  This category is expected to remain current throughout the fiscal year; however, depending on demand, a cutoff date towards the end of the fiscal year may be introduced.

EB-2 China.  This category is expected to continue to move forward by approximately 3-5 weeks per month in each Visa Bulletin.

EB-2 India.  No forward movement.

EB-3 Rest of World (ROW).    After this month’s significant forward movement, it is possible to see certain additional forward movement to stimulate “demand” for the next several months.   Afterwards, the movement may stop or even retrogress.   There should be any forward movement beyond February.

EB-3 China.  Expected to track the worldwide (ROW) date.

EB-3 India.  No forward movement expected.

EB-3 Philippines.  Expected to keep moving forward by three to six weeks per month.

Current Priority Date?

Our office stands ready to assist in the applicable process to take advantage of a current (or close to current) priority date.   Those applicants whose priority dates are current as of the December 2013 Visa Bulletin (EB-3 ROW, specifically) may be eligible to process their (and their family members’) I-485 Adjustment of Status applications from within the U.S. or process their immigrant visa at a U.S. Consulate abroad.   Please do not hesitate to contact us if our office can help you take advantage of this significant forward movement in the cutoff dates.    We are also happy to provide a free quote for preparing and filing your I-485 application.

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 December 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.