July 2009 Visa Bulletin : EB2 China Retrogresses to 01 Jan 2000
Posted Jun 19, 2009
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As expected, the U.S. Department of State (DOS) Visa Bulletin for July 2009 contains a cut-off date of January 1, 2000 for EB2, China. This places EB2 China and India at the same date, and is a reflection that demand in these categories far exceeds the supply of visa numbers. MurthyDotCom and MurthyBulletin readers were provided with detailed information on the current state of employment-based (EB) visa numbers in our May 29, 2009 article, Employment-Based Visa Number Movement and Predictions. The DOS issued a further explanation along with the July 2009 Visa Bulletin, summarized here. [The most current Visa Bulletin chart is always available on MurthyDotCom.]
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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 is current for all countries, except India and China. The cut-off date for China moved back more than five years, to January 1, 2000. The cut-off date for India remains at January 1, 2000, after being set at that date in the June 2009 Visa Bulletin.
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Employment-Based, Third Preference (EB3)
The EB3 category has been depleted for the year, and remains completely unavailable until the next fiscal year (FY). The new USCIS fiscal year of FY2010 begins October 1, 2009.
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Employment-Based, Fourth (EB4) and Employment-Based, Fifth Preference (EB5)
These categories are current for all countries of chargeability and subcategories.
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DOS Explanation on Movement of Priority / Visa Dates
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The DOS issued an explanation, which essentially mirrors the information provided in our May 29, 2009 article, cited above. The DOS estimates that the entire allocation of 140,000 EB visa numbers will be depleted in fiscal year (FY) 2009. The need in EB4 and EB5 has been extremely heavy. While there are enough numbers to meet these requests for the moment, this demand impacts EB2 and EB3. Unused EB4 and EB5 visa numbers can be shifted and used in EB1 and EB2. Historically, this has allowed EB2 India and China to exceed the annual allocation of 2,800 visa numbers to each country. Without the extra numbers, the requests for India and China remain very high in comparison to their allotted numbers.
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The same situation exists for EB1. The demand is high, and the DOS may establish a cut-off date in August or September 2009. Normally, EB1 numbers not needed for other countries would "fall across" or shift within EB1 to India and China. Additionally, if the numbers are not needed in EB1 for China or India, they trickle down to EB2.
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These problems are likely to persist, given the immense backlog of demand. As regular readers of MurthyDotCom and the MurthyBulletin are aware, the USCIS has approximately 25,000 EB2 adjustment-of-status applications that are ready for adjudication, once an immigrant visa number becomes available. The same is true in the EB3 category.
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Conclusion : USCIS Faster Processing Results in Faster Depletion of Visa Numbers
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It is important to note that the cut-off dates in the Visa Bulletin are not a reflection of delayed processing by USCIS. They are a result of the very limited numbers of green card cases that can be approved each year by law. In fact, the unavailability of visa numbers is due in large part to improvements in USCIS adjudications of applications for adjustment of status (Form I-485). The visa numbers are depleted because the USCIS approved enough I-485s to use the numbers. One number is used each time an I-485 is approved; thus, increased efficiency in I-485 processing results in more approvals and earlier exhaustion of the limited supply of visa numbers.
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