December 2015 Visa Bulletin – Filing Cutoff Dates Remain Unchanged; Very Gradual Movement in the Approval Dates

The U.S. State Department has just released the December 2015 Visa Bulletin which is the third Visa Bulletin for the new FY2016 fiscal year. The major headline in the upcoming month’s Visa Bulletin is the lack of any movement whatsoever in the Filing cutoff dates section of the Visa Bulletin, possibly caused by the October 2015 Visa Bulletin revisions and litigation.   The good news is that the Final Action cutoff dates advance gradually for most categories.

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

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

USCIS Clarifies Its Position on Accepting I-485 Applications with Current “Filing” Date

The introduction of the “Filing” cutoff date in the Visa Bulletin three months generated, initially, a lot of excitement and hope in that USCIS will be able to accept early I-485 filings.   However, the reality has been very disappointing.

Additionally, USCIS has added another wrinkle causing additional delay and confusion.   On October 15, 2015, USCIS announced that starting with the November 2015 Visa Bulletin,  they (in addition to the Department of State) will be evaluating whether there are more immigrant visas available for a fiscal year than there are known applicants for such visas based on the dates published in that month’s Visa Bulletin.    This means USCIS will agree to accept the Visa Bulletin “Filing” dates for the purpose of allowing I-485 applications to be filed if (and only if) USCIS determines that there are more available visa numbers than there are known (we assume based on a number of I-485 pending cases) applicants.

According to USCIS, they will be making a determination within a week of the Visa Bulletin issuance and they will be posting their decision it to their website.   USCIS will simply state whether they will honor the “Filing” dates or the “Approval” dates for the purpose of accepting I-485 applications.    USCIS confirms, however, that their default position is that unless indicated otherwise, the “Approval” dates will control who can file I-485 applications.

As a result, applicants who may appear to be current under the “Filing” cutoff dates in a given Visa Bulletin would still need to wait (it appears for another week) for USCIS to announce separately whether they will honor the “Filing” cutoff date for I-485 filing acceptance.   Needless to say, this creates another level of delay and confusion.    Our office will do our best to provide updates and explanations on our website and newsletter but we are happy to analyze individual cases as well.

Third Visa Bulletin for the Fiscal Year Does Not Bring Much Good News: Litigation to Blame?

After the October 2015 Visa Bulletin revision and subsequent (ongoing) litigation, many in the immigrant community were expecting eagerly some development and news from the November 2015 and December 2015 Visa Bulletins. Unfortunately, while we see some gradual forward movement in the “Final Action” dates, the “Filing Dates” categories remain virtually unchanged for this month, in addition to last month’s Visa Bulletin.

We believe that the ongoing litigation may be partially to blame on the lack of any change in the “Filing Dates”. It is not inconceivable for USCIS/DOS to simply wait to see how the litigation would develop in order to be able to determine how the cutoff dates for Filings should be revised.

Visa Bulletin Predictions – Employment-Based

The December 2015 Visa Bulletin provides some predictions and expectations for movement of visa numbers over the next few months.   Please note that these are short-term predictions and depending on the number of applications as a result of the next few months’ visa numbers, the rate of cutoff date movement may change.

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.

EB-2 China.  This category has seen much demand over the past several months so little, if any, forward movement is expected during the coming months.

EB-2 India.  This category is expected to move forward by up to eight months per Visa Bulletin which is a nice forward movement.

EB-3 Rest of World (ROW).  This category is expected to move forward significantly over the next months to stimulate “demand” for the following several months.

EB-3 China.  This category is expected to move forward significantly over the next months to stimulate “demand” for the following several months.   Note that such sharp forward movement and the demand it creates are likely to cause retrogression afterwards.   This may be a limited-time opportunity for EB-3 China applicants.

EB-3 India.  This category is expected to move by up to three weeks per month.

EB-3 Mexico.  This category is expected to match the EB-3 ROW level.

EB-3 Philippines.  This category is expected to move by four to six weeks per month.

Current “Date for Filing Applications”?

Our office stands ready to assist in the applicable process to take advantage of the significant restructuring in the way the cutoff dates are determined and published. Notwithstanding the lack of movement in the Filing cutoff dates, there are still many applicants across many of the employment and family categories who can now 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 share the disappointment of many who were waiting for notable “improvement” of the revised October 2015 Visa Bulletin and the anemic November 2015 Visa Bulletin Filing cutoff dates. We are hoping for more news, guidance and clarifications from USCIS/DOS on the expected movement in these categories over the coming 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 December 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.