EB Visa Numbers Current in March 2000
Posted Feb 18, 2000

We at the Law Office of Sheela Murthy have another piece of good news to share with you! Many of you must have noticed that the Employment Based Visa numbers for the month of March 2000 have been posted at our website.

Charles Oppenheim of the U.S. Department of State (DOS) has confirmed that the employment based (EB) immigrant visa numbers for the month of March 2000 have not retrogressed for nationals of India or China as he had originally anticipated. We had mentioned his comments in our January 2000 and February 2000 Immigration Law Bulletin issues of the Law Office of Sheela Murthy.

Mr. Oppenheim now believes that the EB numbers for nationals of both India and China will likely retrogress in April 2000 back to the July 1999 levels. Again, please note that this is merely an estimate and there is no guarantee that the numbers for Indian or Chinese nationals will retrogress, and if so, how far. Another comment of Mr. Oppenheim was that the family based immigrant visa usage has increased dramatically after the policy was changed regarding CIA name check clearances. The DOS expects family based second preference cases, for spouses and family members of green card holders to slow down or stop completely in the next several months.

The DOS has stated that the reason that the numbers have not retrogressed in March 2000 is because INS has, again, slowed down its processing of I-485 applications and they believe that it would not be fair to retrogress the numbers if INS is not processing cases promptly. As mentioned in our article below, the Vermont Service Center has hired an additional 25 examiners to process I-485 cases and reduce their backlogs. We will continue to provide you information regarding the movement of immigrant visa numbers, once we receive any additional information at the Law Office of Sheela Murthy.