The November Visa Bulletin was uncharacteristically published mere days before the end of October, leaving interested parties guessing for most of the second half of the month.
In essence the new bulletin'sFinal Action dates advance in most categories while the dates for Filing remain largerly unchanged.
According to the State Department’s November Visa Bulletin, final action cutoff dates for issuance of an immigrant visa will be as follows:
• EB-1: All countries except for China and India will remain current in November. China and India will advance by six months to December 1, 2018.
• EB-2: China will advance by just over seven weeks to April 22, 2016, while India will advance by three weeks to September 22, 2009. All other countries will remain current.
• EB-3 Professionals and Skilled Workers: Cutoff dates for China will advance four months to October 1, 2017, and for India will advance one and a half months to March 1, 2010. All countries will remain current in November.
• EB-5: Regional and non-Regional Center Programs will remain current for all countries except China and Vietnam. China will remain at August 15, 2015, while Vietnam will advance by two weeks to August 15, 2017.
In addition, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has announced that it will honor the State Department’s Dates for Filing chart for adjustment of status filings in November. To be eligible to file an employment-based adjustment application in November, employer-sponsored foreign nationals must have a priority date that is earlier than the date listed below for their preference category and country.
This is the second consecutive month in which USCIS has chosen to honor the Dates for Filing chart, rather than the Final Action Date chart. In October, there was significant advancement on this chart, particularly in the EB-2 and EB-3 categories for India and China, which allowed many applicants who were previously subject to lengthy backlogs to file adjustment of status applications. Today’s announcement confirms that the agency will continue to accept these filings through at least the end of November.