Visa Bulletin Predictions

In a November 2009 AILA meeting, Mr. Charlie Oppenheim, who is Chief of the Immigrant Visa Control and Reporting Division at the Department of State (or also known as the person who determines the visa bulletin dates), has indicated some ways in which the visa bulletin numbers will move over the next few months.

Mr. Oppenheim’s Comments

Although there is no guarantee that Mr. Oppenheim’s comments to AILA would turn into reality, he has been very accurate and careful in his comments in the past.

EB-3 Worldwide (ROW).  Visa numbers are expected to progress to April-August 2005.  Such movement will be gradual and is expected to start in January or February of 2010.

EB-2 China and India.  Annual limits are expected to be reached no later than May.  It is possible that otherwise unused second preference numbers to be made available.  This makes the cut-off date for both EB-2 India and China to progress to October-December 2005.

EB-3 China.  It is expected to move along with EB-3 ROW over the next few months.  The fiscal year is expected to end with a June-September 2003 cut-off.

EB-3 India.  Very slow movement expected.  There are 58,000 pending applications and it is expected to move only  up to five (5) weeks over the entire fiscal year.

Our Conclusion

While there are some good news in this announcement, it becomes clear that some categories, especially EB-3 India, become very undesirable and we strongly recommend clients and readers who are in EB-3 India to consider either filing in EB-2, if possible, given education and experience.  Many EB-3 India applicants who have been waiting for 4-5 years already find themselves facing another 4-5 year wait.  As a result, we often see second EB-2 applications using the recently gained experience filed (often by switching employers) by retaining the earlier EB-3 priority date.  Please contact us if we can help you understand whether your case may qualify.