Very Little Movement in July 2016 Visa Bulletin

The July 2016 Visa Bulletin, released by the U.S. Department of State (DOS) earlier this afternoon, reflects disappointing movement in the priority dates. In the final action (FA) chart, the cutoff dates in the employment-based, second preference (EB2) and employment-based, third preference (EB3) categories for India each only move forward by one month. This puts EB2 India at November 1, 2004, and EB3 India at October 22, 2004. Meanwhile, EB2 and EB3 cutoff dates for China stand still at January 1, 2010, and the EB3 other workers category for China retrogresses by several years, to January 1, 2004. EB3 for the Philippines moves forward by a few months, with a new cutoff date of February 15, 2009.

Worse still, the latest visa bulletin includes predictions for visa availability in the coming months, and the news is not encouraging. The EB2 and EB3 categories for China are not expected to move at all, while EB2 and EB3 for India may reach an “early 2005” cutoff date by the September 2016 Visa Bulletin.

MurthyDotCom will provide a more extensive overview of the July 2016 Visa Bulletin in the coming days. Subscribe to the free MurthyBulletin to have the week’s NewsBriefs and more delivered to your Inbox.

Copyright © 2016, MURTHY LAW FIRM. All Rights Reserved