January 2024 Visa Bulletin

The U.S. Department of State (DOS) released the January 2024 Visa Bulletin this afternoon. There is significant movement in the employment-based, first preference (EB1) category, and far more modest movement in some of the other oversubscribed categories. All cutoff dates listed refer to those in the final action chart (i.e., Chart A), unless otherwise specified.

Visa Bulletin Summary

Employment-Based, First Preference (EB1) Category

The cutoff date for EB1 India surges forward to September 1, 2020. For China, the cutoff date advances to July 1, 2022. The EB1 category remains current for all other countries of chargeability.

Employment-Based, Second Preference (EB2) Category

In the EB2 category, the cutoff date for India moves up to March 1, 2012. For China, the cutoff date moves ahead to January 1, 2020. The EB2 cutoff date for all other countries advances to November 1, 2022.

Employment-Based, Third Preference (EB3) Category

For EB3 India, the cutoff date advances to June 1, 2012. China’s EB3 cutoff date moves up to September 1, 2020. The EB3 cutoff date for all other countries of chargeability is set at August 1, 2022.

EB3 Other Workers

In the EB3 other workers category, India’s cutoff date is set at June 1, 2012. For China, the cutoff date moves ahead to January 1, 2017. The EB3 other workers cutoff date for Philippines advances to May 1, 2020. For all other countries of chargeability, the cutoff date moves to September 1, 2020.

Employment-Based, Fourth Preference (EB4) Category

In the EB4 category, the cutoff date for all countries moves ahead to May 15, 2019.

Employment-Based, Fifth Preference (EB5) Category

In the EB5 category, India’s unreserved (i.e., EB5 immigrant visa numbers not set aside for rural, high unemployment, and infrastructure projects) cutoff date shoots forward to December 1, 2020. China’s unreserved cutoff moves up a bit, to December 8, 2015. EB5 remains current for all other EB5 categories and countries of chargeability.

Conclusion

As previously noted on MurthyDotCom, because January is the start of the second quarter of the fiscal year, additional visa numbers were made available, allowing some of the cutoff dates to move forward. MurthyDotCom will continue to closely monitor and report on movement and predictions related to the monthly visa bulletin. Subscribe to the free MurthyBulletin to have weekly updates sent to your inbox.

Copyright © 2023, MURTHY LAW FIRM. All Rights Reserved