NewsFlash! Employment Visa Numbers Retrogress
Posted Dec 10, 2004
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As we were going to press with this week's MurthyBulletin, the U.S. Department of State (DOS), as predicted, announced that the Employment-Based, 3rd Preference (EB3) visa numbers for India, mainland China, and the Philippines will retrogress on January 1, 2005. The EB3 numbers for nationals of the listed countries will retrogress to January 1, 2002. This means that, as of January 1, 2005, anyone who is the beneficiary of a labor certification (or I-140 if a labor certification was not required) in the EB3 category filed on or after January 1, 2002, will not be permitted to file the I-485 or have a consular interview for an immigrant visa until the numbers move beyond this date. [For an explanation of Visa Dates, see our MurthyDotCom article, Priority Dates: How Do They Work?]
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The DOS has indicated that further retrogression may be possible in future months. For a detailed analysis of the implications of retrogression, see our Sep 24, 2004 article, Priority Dates May Retrogress, available on MurthyDotCom. As always, the latest Visa Dates can be found on MurthyDotCom.