July 2015 Visa Bulletin – EB-2 India Remains Unchanged; EB-3 Philippines Unavailable

The U.S. State Department has just released the July 2015 Visa Bulletin which is the tenth Visa Bulletin for the FY2015 fiscal year.   The major headline in the upcoming month’s Visa Bulletin is the lack of any movement in EB-2 India and EB-3 China and that EB-3 Philippines is unavailable.

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

Below is a summary of the July 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 October 1, 2008.  EB-2 China moves forward by four (4) months to October 1, 2013.
• EB-3 ROW and Mexico advance by six (6) weeks to April 1, 2015.   EB-3 Philippines is unavailable.   EB-3 China  remains unchanged at September 1, 2011 while EB-3 India  advances by only one (1) week to February 1, 2004.
• The “other worker” categories for ROW and Mexico advance by six (6) weeks to April 1, 2015 while Philippines is unavailable.     Other workers China remains unchanged at January 1, 2006 while India  advances by only one (1) week to February 1, 2004.
• EB-5 China advances by four (4) months to September 1, 2013.

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

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

• FB-1 ROW, China and India move forward by one (1) month to October 1, 2007.   FB-1 Mexico remains unchanged at November 15, 1994 while FB-1 Philippines moves forward but by only two (2) weeks to March 15, 2000.
• FB-2A moves forward again — this month the forward movement is by five (5) weeks to November 8, 2013 for ROW, China, India and Philippines.  It moves forward by five (5) weeks to September 15, 2013  for Mexico.

EB-2 India Unchanged – Is Any Forward Movement Likely for the Rest of the Fiscal Year?

After several months of nice forward movement, this month’s Visa Bulletin lack of movement in EB-2 India may be disappointing to many EB-2 India applicants who were hoping for 2009 or 2010 cutoff dates by the end of the fiscal year.

EB-2 India applicants with a priority date earlier than October 1, 2008 can now move forward with their applications (or expect approvals if they have already filed their I-485 applications).    Over the last few months, in our Visa Bulletin reports we have been cautioning that the rate of forward movement is slowing down, suggesting that it may eventually stop or even retrogress.      The fact that the Department of State is not advancing EB-2 India this month is an indication that they have sufficient applications on file to use the available visa numbers for the remainder of the fiscal year.    However, as we are getting into the final two months of the fiscal year, it is possible to see additional forward movements in the August and September 2015 Visa Bulletins to accommodate any additional visa numbers who may be made available from other preference categories.

EB-2 China Advances Significantly; EB-3 China Moderate Forward Movement

EB-2 China continues to advance this month.  This month’s forward movement of 4 months, combined with last couple of months’ movements, are among the more significant movements in EB-2 China for some time.   EB-3 China, on the other hand, seems to experience significant demand and, as a result, there is no movement this month.

We had noted in our earlier Visa Bulletin alerts that the demand in EB-3 China is expected to rise with the forward date movement and it now seems that the Department of State is trying to moderate the demand by keeping the date steady.

EB-3 Philippines Unavailable

The significant demand in EB-3 for Philippines has caused the Department of State to move back the date significantly over the last few months and this month they are making this category “Unavailable.”   This means that there are no visa numbers available for EB-3 Philippines during July 2015.  This means that the government cannot authorize any visas for this category — no green card approvals are likely and no new I-485 adjustment of status applications can be filed (regardless of the priority date).

EB-5 China Cutoff Date

Based on significant demand in the EB-5 category from Chinese nationals, the Department of State had introduced a cutoff date for EB-5 China over the last few months.   The good news is that this month’s Visa Bulletin moves forward the cutoff date by four months to September 1, 2013.

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 July 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 July 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.