Special Alert: December 2017 Visa Bulletin Released

The U.S. Department of State has released the December 2017 Visa Bulletin.

Little to no change is visible in next month’s visa bulletin, the EB-1 category remains current across all countries, and the EB-2 and EB-3 categories for China see slight advances. Furthermore, the EB-2 India category advances only by a few days, while EB-3 India remains unchanged.

The EIG team is closely monitoring changes to the monthly visa bulletin and determining the best plan of action for each case. We will be reaching out to individuals whose priority date will be current next month in order to initiate the next step of the green card process. We have also summarized frequently asked questions in our August 8th Issue of the EIG Dispatch. We encourage you to read this article to have a better grasp of the visa bulletin and to understand what your priority date means.

PLEASE NOTE: For the month of November, USCIS has made a determination to use the Final Action Dates chart for employment-based, but for family-based categories is accepting applications based on the Dates of Filing chart. At this time, USCIS has not announced whether it will be accepting pre-filings for any employment-based or family-based categories for the month of December. EIG will continue to monitor the situation and provide an update when USCIS has made a determination. For more information, please visit the USCIS website.


The December 2017 Visa Bulletin can be found here and is summarized below:

APPLICATION FINAL ACTION DATES (DATES WHEN VISAS MAY BE ISSUED)

EB-1

  • All countries are currentThis category remains unchanged. 

EB-2

  • Persons in the EB-2 category and born in China are current if they have a priority date before the cut-off date of July 1, 2013This category advanced by 16 days. 
  • Persons in the EB-2 category and born in India are current if they have a priority date before the cut-off date of November 1, 2008This category advanced by 24 days. 
  • All persons in the worldwide quota, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, or the Philippines are currentThis category remains unchanged. 

EB-3

  • Persons in the EB-3 category and born in Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, or in the worldwide quota are currentThis category remains unchanged.
  • Persons in the EB-3 category and born in China are current if they have a priority date before the cut-off date of March 8, 2014This category advanced by 1 month 7 days.
  • Persons in the EB-3 category and born in India are current if they have a priority date before the cut-off date of October 15, 2006This category remains unchanged. 
  • Persons in the EB-3 category and born in the Philippines are current if they have a priority date before the cut-off date of January 15, 2016This category remains unchanged.  

EB-4

  • Persons in the EB-4 category and born in El Salvador, Guatemala, or Honduras are current if they have a priority date before the cut-off date of November 8, 2015This category advanced by 7 days.
  • Persons in the EB-4 category and born in Mexico are current if they have a priority date before the cut-off date of April 22, 2016This category advanced by 21 days.
  • Persons in the worldwide quota, China, India, or the Philippines are currentThis category remains unchanged.

EB-5

  • Persons in the EB-5 Non Regional Center (C5 and T5) category and born in China are current if they have a priority date before the cut-off date of July 15, 2014This category advanced by 14 days.
  • Persons in the worldwide quota, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, India, Mexico, or the Philippines are currentThis category remains unchanged. 

DATES FOR FILING APPLICATIONS (EARLIEST DATES WHEN APPLICANTS MAY BE ABLE TO APPLY)

EB-1

  • All countries are currentThis category remains unchanged.

EB-2

  • Persons in the EB-2 category and born in China are current if they have a priority date before the cut-off date of November 15, 2013This category remains unchanged.
  • Persons in the EB-2 category and born in India are current if they have a priority date before the cut-off date of February 8, 2009This category remains unchanged.
  • Persons in the worldwide quota, Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, or the Philippines are currentThis category remains unchanged.

EB-3

  • Persons in the EB-3 category and born in China are current if they have a priority date before the cut-off date of September 1, 2015This category remains unchanged.  
  • Persons in the EB-3 category and born in India are current if they have a priority date before the cut-off date of January 1, 2008This category remains unchanged. 
  • Persons in the EB-3 category and born in the Philippines are current if they have a priority date before the cut-off date of August 1, 2016This category remains unchanged. 
  • Persons in the worldwide quota, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, or Mexico are current. This category remains unchanged.

EB-4 

  • Persons in the worldwide quota, El Salvador, Guatemala, or Honduras are current if they have a priority date before the cut-off date of April 15, 2016. This category remains unchanged. 
  • Persons in the worldwide quota, China, India, Mexico or the Philippines are currentThis category remains unchanged.

EB-5

  • Persons in the EB-5 Non Regional Center (C5 and T5) category and born in China are current if they have a priority date before the cut-off date of October 01, 2014. This category remains unchanged.
  • Persons in the worldwide quota, India, Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, or the Philippines are current. This category remains unchanged.

The complete Visa Bulletin for December 2017 can be found here.