The U.S. State Department just released the October 2011 Visa Bulletin which is the first Visa Bulletin for the FY2012 fiscal year.    The major headline in the upcoming month’s bulletin is the significant forward movement in EB-2 India and China and the forward movement in FB1.

Summary of the October 2011 Visa Bulletin – Employment-Based (EB)

Below is a summary of the October 2011 Visa Bulletin with respect to employment-based petitions:

• EB-1 remains current across the board.
• EB-2 remains current for EB-2 ROW, Mexico and Philippines.   EB-2 India and EB-2 China both move forward by three (3) months to July 15, 2007.
• EB-3 ROW, EB-3 Mexico and EB-3 Philippines move forward by two (2) weeks to December 8, 2005, EB-3 China  moves forward by three (3) weeks to August 8, 2004, while EB-3 India  moves forward by only one (1) week to July 15, 2002.
• The “other worker” category remains unchanged at  April 22, 2003 for China.  It moves forward by six (6) weeks for ROW, Mexico and Philippines to September 15, 2005.  It also moves forward by one (1) week for India to June 8, 2002.

Summary of the October 2011 Visa Bulletin – Family-Based (FB)

Below is a summary of the October 2011 Visa Bulletin with respect to family-based petitions:

• FB1 moves forward (finally!).  FB1 ROW, China and India all move forward by six (6) weeks to June 15, 2004.   FB1 Mexico moves forward by one (1) week to March 22, 1993 and FB1 Philippines moves forward by a little over two (2) months to January 8, 1997.
• FB2A moves forward by five (5) weeks to January 8, 2009 for ROW, China, India, and Philippines.  FB2A Mexico moves forward by three (3) weeks to October 15, 2008.
• FB2B ROW, China and India move forward by two (2) weeks to July 15, 2003.  FB2B Mexico moves forward by three (3) weeks to November 22, 1992.  FB2B Philippines moves forward by five (5) weeks to May 1, 2001.

Substantial Movement in EB-2 India and China;  Slow Movement  for EB-3; Finally Forward Movement in FB1

One of the major headlines this month, in the first Visa Bulletin for the Fiscal Year 2012 is the substantial forward movement in EB-2 India and China.    The slow movement across EB-3 continues, unfortunately.

We finally see forward movement in the FB1 category which, for several months, had not changed.   Although the movement is only of five weeks, it is still a notable movement.   We continue to see the FB2A category move forward, although by not as much as we saw for the last few months and after the significant retrogression during the months before.

Further Updates and News

We invite you to subscribe to our free weekly immigration newsletter to receive timely updates on this and related topics.  We also invite you to contact us if our office can be of any assistance in your immigration matters or you have any questions or comments about the October 2011 Visa Bulletin.  Finally, if you already haven’t, please consider our Visa Bulletin Predictions tool which provides personalized predictions and charts helping you understand when a particular priority date may become current and what are the movement patterns.