November 2013 Visa Bulletin – No Movement for EB-2 and EB-3 India; No Movement for FB-2A

The U.S. State Department has just released the November 2013 Visa Bulletin which is the second Visa Bulletin for the FY2014 fiscal year.   The major headline in the upcoming month’s Visa Bulletin is that there is no movement for any EB India categories and the fact that FB-2A remains unchanged with a (relatively) recent cutoff date.

Summary of the November 2013 Visa Bulletin – Employment-Based (EB)

Below is a summary of the November 2013 Visa Bulletin with respect to employment-based petitions:

  • EB-1 remains current across the board.
  • EB-2 for ROW, Mexico and Philippines are all current.    EB-2 India remains unchanged, again, at June 15, 2008.  EB-2 China moves forward by three (3) weeks to October 8, 2008.
  • EB-3 ROW, China and Mexico move forward by three (3) months to October 1, 2010.  EB-3 Philippines remains unchanged at December 15, 2006, while EB-3 India  remains unchanged, again, at September 22, 2003.
  • The “other worker” moves forward by three (3) months to October 1, 2010 for ROW and Mexico.  It moves forward by one (1) week to October 1, 2010 for China.   It remains unchanged at December 15, 2006 for Philippines; there is also no movement for India which remains at September 22, 2003.

Summary of the November 2013 Visa Bulletin – Family-Based (FB)

Below is a summary of the November 2013 Visa Bulletin with respect to family-based petitions:

  • FB-1 continues to move forward, although slowly.  FB-1 ROW, China and India all move forward by three (3) weeks to October 22, 2006.   FB-1 Mexico remains unchanged at September 22, 1993 and FB-1 Philippines moves forward by one (1) month to July 1, 2001.
  • FB-2A remains unchanged for all nationalities.  All categories (FB-2A ROW, China, India, Mexico and Philippines) continue to have a cutoff date of September 8, 2013.
  • FB-2B ROW, China and India all move forward by three (3) weeks to March 22, 2006.  FB-2B Mexico moves forward by three (3) weeks to April 1, 1994 while FB-2B Philippines moves forward by three (3) weeks to March 1, 2003.

Slow or No Movement for Many

The November 2013 Visa Bulletin does not bring much good news.   Many categories remain unchanged – specifically EB-2 and EB-3 India remain unchanged and FB-2A for all categories also remain the same.   It should be noted, however, that the cutoff dates have been advancing rapidly over the past few months for many categories and the fact that there is not much movement this month should be taken together with the recent significant forward movement for many.

The last two Visa Bulletins for the last fiscal year (August and September 2013) brought significant advancement which was done in order to utilize all of the available visa numbers for the fiscal year (which ended on September 30th).   The Department of State and USCIS are expecting (and our office already has seen) increased activity in this category — National Visa Center (NVC) case processing and I-485 adjustment of status activity at USCIS.    During our analysis on the September 2013 Visa Bulletin, we predicted that “with the increased activity over the next few months in EB-2 India, slowdown and even retrogression are possible. “

EB India and FB-2A Remain  Unchanged

Many of our readers or clients who are under the employment-based (EB) category for India would be disappointed by the lack of any movement in any of the EB categories for India (EB-2, EB-3 and Skilled Workers).   This is due to the high demand and the number of filings caused by the significant forward movement over the summer of 2013 in many of the India EB cutoff dates.

Another notable development (or lack thereof) is the fact that FB-2A cutoff date remains unchanged, after the introduction of a cutoff date in the previous, October 2013 Visa Bulletin.   We expected the October 2013 FB-2A cutoff date to be introduced and the fact that it remains unchanged is not surprising since it appears that USCIS and the Department of State have seen increased number of filings in this category.

Current Priority Date?

Our office stands ready to assist in the applicable process to take advantage of a current (or close to current) priority date.   Those applicants whose priority dates are current as of the November 2013 Visa Bulletin may be eligible to process their (and their family members’) I-485 Adjustment of Status applications from within the U.S. or process their immigrant visa at a U.S. Consulate abroad.   Please do not hesitate to contact us if our office can help you take advantage of this significant forward movement in the cutoff dates.    We are also happy to provide a free quote for preparing and filing your I-485 application.

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 November 2013 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.

By | Last Updated: May 20th, 2017| Categories: Articles, I-485, News, Visa Bulletin|

About the Author: Dimo Michailov

Dimo Michailov
Dimo has over 15 years of experience in US immigration including employment-based immigration benefits, corporate compliance and family based immigration. He represents corporate and individual clients in a wide range of cross-border immigration matters including mobility of key foreign executives and managers, specialized knowledge workers, and foreign nationals with extraordinary ability.

The Capitol Immigration Law Group has been serving the business community for over 15 years and is one of the most widely respected immigration law firms focused solely on U.S. employment-based immigration.   Disclaimer:  we make all efforts to provide timely and accurate information; however, the information in this article may become outdated or may not be applicable to a specific set of facts.  It is not to be construed as legal advice.