February 2019 Visa Bulletin Check-In: Insight into Cause of EB3 India Movement

Most months, Charles Oppenheim, the U.S. Department of State (DOS) Chief of the Visa Control and Reporting Division, provides visa bulletin explanations and predictions. Predictions for cutoff date movement were included in the February 2019 Visa Bulletin, and the employment-based predictions can be found in the MurthyDotCom NewsBrief, February 2019 Visa Bulletin: Cutoff Date for EB3 India Passes EB2. With this update, Mr. Oppenheim explains a bit about the movement in the employment-based cases for India and China.

EB3 India Cutoff Date Passes EB2 India

Mr. Oppenheim explains that the main reason India’s cutoff date in the employment-based, third preference (EB3) category has passed that of its counterpart in the employment-based, second preference (EB2) category is that there has not been a great demand for EB3 from most other countries of chargeability. This is allowing more of the visa numbers to spillover to EB3 India.

This transition no doubt will result in an increase in the number of EB2-to-EB3 “downgrade” cases from Indian-born applicants. If the increase is significant, this eventually could lead to EB2 India once again having a more favorable cutoff date than EB3 India.

EB2 China to Remain Ahead of EB3 China, For Now

For many months, it was China, not India, that was experiencing the issue of EB2-to-EB3 downgrade cases. Now, however, EB2 China has returned to having a more favorable cutoff date than EB3 China. Mr. Oppenheim expects this will not change in the near future. To the contrary, movement in the EB2 China category is expected to outpace that of EB3 China for at least the next several months.

Conclusion

MurthyDotCom will continue to closely monitor and report on movement and predictions related to the monthly visa bulletin. Subscribe to the MurthyBulletin to receive updates.

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