Priority Dates Expected to Remain Current
Posted Jun 21, 2002

In a session at the 2002 American Immigration Lawyers Association Annual Conference in San Francisco, which took place June 12-16, 2002, a U.S. Department of State (DOS) official discussed projections for movement of priority dates. For general information on priority dates and their significance to employment-based and family-based green card cases, readers are referred to our article Priority Dates : How Do They Work? available on MurthyDotCom.

According to DOS, the employment-based priority dates, with the exception of "other workers" (unskilled occupations), are expected to remain current for all countries until sometime in 2004. This includes every country, even India, the Philippines, and Mexico, which have previously experienced significant backlogs. The cut-off date for third preference, unskilled "other workers" will probably retrogress (move backward) in mid-2003.

MurthyBulletin and MurthyDotCom readers who are processing family-based cases are aware that there has been little movement on the Visa Bulletin chart in these categories. DOS did predict, however, some improvement for family-based cases because of a slow-down in case processing. The added security procedures now being implemented have meant that cases are taking longer to process; thus fewer cases are completed in any given month. When fewer cases are completed, the visa quotas are not used up as quickly. In this situation, DOS moves the cut-off date forward to enable more beneficiaries to file their Adjustment of Status (I-485) or to file their Consular Processing applications. We can expect some movement in family-based categories, therefore.