December 2008 Visa Bulletin : Stagnant
Posted Nov 21, 2008
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The U.S. Department of State (DOS) Visa Bulletin has published the December 2008 Visa Bulletin. The Visa Bulletin for December is identical to the November Visa Bulletin in the EB Categories, with the exception of the Certain Religious Workers categories. This Visa Bulletin is the third to be issued in Fiscal Year (FY) 2009, marking the end of the first quarter of FY2009. The EB categories that were previously "current" remain current. Those with cutoff dates continue to have the same cutoff dates, with no forward movement and no further retrogression. [The most recent Visa Bulletin chart is always available on MurthyDotCom.]
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Summary of Visa Bulletin
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Employment-Based, First Preference (EB1)
This category is current for all countries of chargeability.
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Employment-Based, Second Preference (EB2)
This category continues to be current for all countries, except for India and China. The cutoff dates for India and China did not change. India's cutoff date is June 1, 2003. The date for China is June 1, 2004.
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Employment-Based, Third Preference (EB3)
This category has cutoff dates for all countries of chargeability, or the rest of the world, besides those countries listed. This category, as well as the Philippines, has a cutoff date under the December Visa Bulletin of May 1, 2005. The cutoff date for Mexico is September 1, 2002. China has a cutoff date of February 1, 2002. India continues to have an October 1, 2001 cutoff date.
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The EB3 "Other Worker" Category
This category is still set at January 15, 2003 for all countries.
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Employment-Based 4th / 5th / Religious Workers & Targeted Employment
The EB4, EB5 (investor), religious workers and the targeted employment categories are all current. 
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Explanation
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The DOS did not provide any specific explanation for the stagnation in the Visa Bulletin. However, as always, the Visa Bulletin is based upon the supply of visa numbers, and the demand for those numbers. The November Visa Bulletin had noted that the heavy demand for visa numbers by the USCIS continues, which confirms that they still have large numbers of cases with priority dates that are prior to the cutoff dates. Thus, when there is heavy demand, the cutoff dates do not move, and there is always the possibility that they could retrogress.