February 2021 Visa Bulletin and Short-Term Predictions

The U.S. Department of State (DOS) has released the February 2021 Visa Bulletin. The visa bulletin also includes a number of predictions for the coming months. All cutoff dates listed refer to the dates in the final action chart (i.e., Chart A), unless otherwise specified.

Visa Bulletin Summary

Employment-Based, First Preference (EB1) Category

The EB1 China and India categories continue to advance. The cutoff dates for both are now set at January 1, 2020. The category remains current for all other countries of chargeability.

EB1 China and India are expected to continue to rapidly advance in the coming months.

Employment-Based, Second Preference (EB2) Category

EB2 India only advances by a few days, to October 12, 2009. EB2 China moves to June 15, 2016. The EB2 category remains current for all countries of chargeability except India and China.

EB2 India is expected to advance by up to two weeks per month in the coming months. EB3 China could move up by as much as three weeks per month.

Employment-Based, Third Preference (EB3) Category

The cutoff date for EB3 India advances to April 1, 2010. EB3 China’s cutoff date is set at January 1, 2018. The EB3 category remains current for all other countries of chargeability.

EB3 India could advance by up to three weeks per month in the near future. The cutoff date for EB3 China could move up by as much as one month per month.

EB3 Other Workers

With the exception of China, the cutoff dates for EB3 other workers are the same for each country as its respective EB3 cutoff dates. For China, the cutoff date for EB3 other workers moves to April 1, 2009.

Employment-Based, Fourth Preference (EB4) Category

The cutoff date for EB4 Mexico moves to December 15, 2018. The EB4 cutoff date for El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras moves to April 15, 2018. This category remains current for all other countries of chargeability.

EB4 Mexico may advance up to one month per month, while the EB4 cutoff date for El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras could advance by up to three months per month.

Employment-Based, Fifth Preference (EB5) Category

The EB5 category remains current for all countries of chargeability, other than China and Vietnam. For China, the EB5 cutoff date remains at August 15, 2015, and is not expected to advance in the near future. For Vietnam, the EB5 cutoff date moves to October 1, 2017, and may move forward by three weeks per month.

Conclusion

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

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