January 2015 Visa Bulletin – EB-3 Continues to Advance Significantly; EB-2 India Unchanged

The U.S. State Department has just released the January 2015 Visa Bulletin which is the fourth Visa Bulletin for the FY2015 fiscal year.   The major headline in the upcoming month’s Visa Bulletin is the continued forward movement in the EB-3 preference category.

Summary of the January 2015 Visa Bulletin – Employment-Based (EB)

Below is a summary of the January 2015 Visa Bulletin with respect to the employment-based categories:

• EB-1 remains current across the board.
• EB-2 for ROW, Mexico and Philippines are all current.    EB-2 India remains unchanged at February 15, 2005 after the major retrogression from a couple of months ago.    EB-2 China moves forward by one (1) month to February 1, 2010.
• EB-3 ROW, Mexico and Philippines advance by seven (7) months to June 1, 2013.   EB-3 China advances by nine (9) months to March 1, 2011 while EB-3 India  advances by only two (2) weeks to December 15, 2003.
• The “other worker” categories for ROW, Mexico and Philippines advance by seven (7) months to June 1, 2013.   EB-3 China remains unchanged at July 22, 2005 while EB-3 India  advances by only two (2) weeks to December 15, 2003.

Summary of the January 2015 Visa Bulletin – Family-Based (FB)

Below is a summary of the January 2015 Visa Bulletin with respect to some family-based categories:

• FB-1 ROW, China and India all move forward by two (2) weeks to July 8, 2007.   FB-1 Mexico moves forward by one (1) month to September 15, 1994 and FB-1 Philippines moves forward by one (1) week to December 22, 2004.
• FB-2A moves forward again  – it moves forward by three (3) weeks to April 15, 2013 for ROW, China, India and Philippines.  It also moves forward by seven (7) weeks to February 22, 2013  for Mexico.

EB-2 India Retrogression Expected to Remain Through Summer of 2015

As expected, EB-2 India remains unchanged at the (severely retrogressed) February 15, 2005 date.    Unfortunately, no movement in EB-2 India is expected over the next several months with a possible forward movement towards the summer of 2015.

EB-3 Continues to Move Forward Significantly

The most important development in the January 2015 Visa Bulletin is the continued notable forward movement in the EB-3 categories.    Most of the EB-3 categories have advanced by seven months, with EB-3 China moving forward by nine months, on top of the significant forward movement in the past few visa bulletins. This should be welcome news to many EB-3 applicants (except EB-3 India where the forward movement is only of two weeks) who may be eligible for I-485 filings or processing of their immigrant visas at the U.S. Consulates abroad.    We are happy to provide a free quote for preparing and filing your I-485 application to those EB-3 applicants (and other) who are seeing an advancing and current (or soon to be current) priority date.

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 January 2015 Visa Bulletin 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 (very time-sensitive for some) opportunity to file I-485 applications.    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 January 2015 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.