July 2009 Visa Bulletin – No Change Except EB-2 China Retrogression

The July 2009 Visa Bulletin was released today.  Unfortunately, as expected, the only change is the EB-2 China category which changed from February 15, 2005 to January 1, 2000.  All other categories remain unchanged.  Here is a summary of the July 2009 Visa Bulletin:

• EB-1 remains current across the board.
• EB-2 remains unchanged for all categories except as noted above for EB-2 China:  EB-2 ROW (Rest of World) is current, EB-2 China and EB-2 India are January 1, 2000.
• EB-3 is unavailable for all categories.
• Other worker visa numbers are also unavailable.

In one of the comments to the July 2009 Visa Bulletin, the State Department notes that the retrogression of EB-2 China has been necessary to take into account the high demand of visa issuances so far this fiscal year.   As a result, visa availability during the final quarter of the fiscal year is likely to remain very limited as some employment-based categories approach or have already reached their annual numerical limits.