The U.S. Department of State (DOS) released the September 2019 Visa Bulletin.
Several Employment-Based preference categories have retrogressed or have become unavailable for the remainder of Fiscal Year 2019. For EB-1 categories, cut-off dates have advanced for persons born in Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, the Philippines, Vietnam, or in the worldwide quota while cut-off dates have retrogressed for persons born in China. No visas are available for persons in the EB-1 category who were born in India. The Department of State explained in Section D of the September visa bulletin that due to the change in demand pattern for adjustment of status applicants during July and a larger than anticipated return of unused numbers which have been provided to consular offices for July use, it was possible to advance the Employment First and Second preferences final action dates for most countries and for the India Employment Fifth preference. The Department of State indicates that every effort will be made to return final action dates to at least the dates which have been announced in August.
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 September, USCIS has made a determination to accept applications based on the Final Action Dates Chart (Chart A) for the employment-based categories and applications based on the Dates for Filing Chart (Chart B) for the family-based categories. 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 September. EIG will continue to monitor the situation and provide an update once USCIS has made a determination. For more information, please visit the USCIS website.
The September 2019 Visa Bulletin can be found here and is summarized below:
Application Final Action Dates (dates when visas may be issued)
- Persons in the EB-1 category and born in Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, the Philippines, Vietnam, or in the worldwide quota are current if they have a priority date before the cut-off date of October 1, 2017. These categories advanced by 1 year 3 months.
- Persons in the EB-1 category and born in China are current if they have a priority date before the cut-off date of January 1, 2014. This category retrogressed by 2 years 6 months.
- Numbers are not authorized for issuance for persons in the EB-1 category and born in India. No visas are being issued in this category for the month of September.
- Persons in the EB-2 category and born in Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, the Philippines, Vietnam, or in the worldwide quota are current if they have a priority date before the cut-off date of January 1, 2018. This category advanced by 1 year.
- Persons in the EB-2 category and born in China are current if they have a priority date before the cut-off date of January 1, 2017. This 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 May 8, 2009. This category advanced by 6 days.
- Persons in the EB-3 category and born in Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, the Philippines, Vietnam, or in the worldwide quota are current if they have a priority date before the cut-off date of July 1, 2016. These categories remain 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 January 1, 2014. This category retrogressed by 2 years 6 months.
- Persons in the EB-3 category and born in India are current if they have a priority date before the cut-off date of July 1, 2005. This category retrogressed by 6 months.
- Numbers are not authorized for any group in this category. No visas are available for the month of September 2019 when visas were previously available.
EB-5
- Persons in the EB-5 Non-Regional Center (C5 and T5) category and born in China or Vietnam are current if they have a priority date before the cut-off date of October 22, 2014. This has advanced by 7 days.
- Persons in the EB-5 Non-Regional Center (C5 and T5) category and born in India are current if they have a priority date before the cut-off date of September 1, 2017. This category has advanced by 2 years, 10 months, 18 days.
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- Persons in the EB-5 Non-Regional Center (C5 and T5) category and born in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, the Philippines, or in the worldwide quota are current. This category remains unchanged.
Dates for Filing Applications (earliest dates when applicants may be able to apply)
EB-1
- Persons in the EB-1 category and born in Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, the Philippines, or in the worldwide quota are current if they have a priority date before the cut-off date of September 1, 2018. These categories remain unchanged.
- Persons in the EB-1 category and born in China are current if they have a priority date before the cut-off date of October 1, 2017. This category remains unchanged.
- Persons in the EB-1 category and born in India are current if they have a priority date before the cut-off date of October 1, 2017. This category remains unchanged.
- Persons in the EB-2 category and born in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, the Philippines, or in the worldwide quota are current. This category remains unchanged.
- Persons in the EB-2 category and born in China are current if they have a priority date before the cut-off date of June 1, 2017. This category has advanced by 4 months.
- Persons in the EB-2 category and born in India are current if they have a priority date before the cut-off date of June 1, 2009. This category remains unchanged.
- Persons in the EB-3 category and born in Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, the Philippines or in the worldwide quota are current. These categories remain 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 June 1, 2016. This 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 April 1, 2010. This category remains unchanged.
- Persons in the EB-4 category and born in China, India, Mexico, the Philippines, or in the worldwide quota are current. This category remains unchanged.
- 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 September 1, 2016. This category remains unchanged.
- 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 November 22, 2014. This category has advanced by 7 days.
- Persons in the worldwide quota, India, Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, the Philippines or Vietnam are current. These categories remain unchanged.
The complete Visa Bulletin for September 2019 can be found here.