April 2008 Visa Bulletin : EB2 India Moves Forward
Posted Mar 21, 2008
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The U.S. Department of State (DOS) recently issued the Visa Bulletin for April 2008. This Visa Bulletin has significant and positive news for those in the employment-based, second preference (EB2) category for nationals of India. EB2 India has been completely "unavailable" during the months of February and March 2008. However, for April 2008, a cutoff date once again has been established. That cutoff date is December 1, 2003. The reappearance of visa numbers in the EB2 India category is due to a shifting of numbers from the general EB2 category due to reduced demand and provisions that allow the per-country limits to be disregarded if adhering to those limits would lead to unused immigrant visa numbers before September 30, 2008, which marks the end of the 2008 fiscal year.
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There was also some forward movement in the EB3 category. Categories that were previously current in the employment-based categories remain current. The latest Visa Bulletin is always available on MurthyDotCom.
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Summary of April 2008 Visa Bulletin
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Employment-Based, First Preference (EB1)
This category remains current for all countries of chargeability.
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Employment-Based, Second Preference (EB2)
This category remains current for worldwide, Mexico, and the Philippines. As explained above, the cutoff date for India was reestablished, and is December 1, 2003. The cutoff date for China was unchanged, remaining at December 1, 2003.
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Employment-Based, Third Preference (EB3)
The EB3 worldwide category cutoff date continued to move forward to July 1, 2005. The same is true of the Philippines. China also moved slightly forward, to February 8, 2003. India's cutoff date improved by several months; moving to October 1, 2001. Mexico also has an October 1, 2001 cutoff date. "Other workers" of all countries of chargeability have a cutoff date of March 1, 2002.
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Employment-Based, Fourth (EB4) / Fifth (EB5) / Religious Workers and Targeted Employment
These categories are all current.
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DOS Explanation and Prediction
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The DOS's explanation for the forward movement of the EB2 India cutoff date, after becoming "unavailable" is, as mentioned above, due to an anticipated excess of visa numbers overall. If the demand in an employment preference category is not sufficient to use all of the available numbers in a quarter, then the unused numbers can be made available notwithstanding the per-country limitations. Thus, it appears that visa numbers that potentially would have gone unused were shifted to EB2 India. This is obviously a significant benefit to those in the EB2 India category, who otherwise suffer from the seven percent per-country limitation out of the total number of immigrant visas issued each year.
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Conclusion
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As a result of the February 4, 2008 Aytes memo regarding revised name check clearance procedures, it is anticipated that demand for EB visa numbers will increase significantly in the near future. Regular MurthyDotCom and MurthyBulletin readers have seen several recent articles on the Aytes memo, including, Adjustment Cases Delayed by Name Checks - February 2008, Feb 22, 2008. It is estimated that over 47,000 cases are impacted by the Aytes memo. (This includes family and employment-based cases.) The USCIS indicated that it would be identifying and moving forward with eligible cases in March 2008. We at the Murthy Law Firm have seen signs of that action, including approvals for long-delayed cases. Thus, the demand for the limited supply of available visa numbers is likely again to increase, as cases with beneficiaries from many different countries, which were long delayed in the name check process, become eligible for approval and use the pool of immigrant visas.