Visa Bulletin Update: EB-1 Cutoff Date to Remain for Few Months; EB-2/3 India to Recover in October

Our office has obtained an updated set of expected cutoff date movements over the next several months as we end fiscal year 2018 on September 30, 2018 and enter the fiscal year 2019.     Mr. Charles Oppenheim who is the Chief of the Visa Control and Reporting Division for the U.S. Department of State (DOS) (he is the person responsible for the Visa Bulletin) has provided updated explanations and expectations for fiscal year 2019 (FY19) which begins on October 1, 2018.

EB-1 – Cutoff Date to Remain for Several Months

Mr. Oppenheim expects that the EB-1 category will NOT return to being current on October 1, 2018.   The cutoff date is expected to remain for all countries for “at least a few months” and the cutoff date for EB-1 India and EB-1 China will remain behind other countries.   Not much movement is expected before December 2018.

EB-2 and EB-3 India – October Recovery Followed by Slow Advancement

After the significant recent retrogression in these categories, they are expected to recover to their pre-retrogression levels in the October 2018 Visa Bulletin.    Afterwards, the forward movement is expected to be slow and as predicted in the September 2018 Visa Bulletin:   two to three weeks advancement every month.

Further Updates and News

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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.