In the September 2022 Visa Bulletin, EB-1 remains current for all countries. EB-2 and EB-3 for China and India remain unchanged from the previous visa bulletin.
FINAL ACTION DATES (Chart A): | DATES FOR FILING (Chart B): |
China:
India:
Others:
|
China:
India:
Others:
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PLEASE NOTE: The USCIS has not yet indicated whether they will accept adjustment of status applications pursuant to Dates for Filing (Chart B) for September 2022 at this time. For more information, please visit the USCIS website.
Next Steps and Strategies
Applicants that have their I-485, Adjustment of Status (AOS) applications pending with USCIS under the EB-3 category, who find that their priority date is no longer current under the EB-3 final action, but will become current under the EB-2 category, may benefit from an interfiling request to USCIS. An interfiling is the process by which an AOS applicant may request that USCIS change the basis of their pending application from one preference category to another. We invite you to contact your immigration counsel to inquire whether this strategy may benefit your specific case.
Our teams will continue to monitor the priority dates each month, and if a case would ever benefit from an EB-2 interfiling, we will review and flag those cases for further action.
Looking Forward
As reported in previous issues, EIG expects that EB-1 will continue progressing the same with each visa bulletin. Based on our observation of recent visa bulletins and the September visa bulletin, EB-2 for India and China may be at a standstill or see very limited progression through the end of the fiscal year as USCIS works through the already-pending applications.
The Dates for Filing chart also remained unchanged in the EB-2 and EB-3 categories for India and China. This should not affect the processing of those individuals who already have an Adjustment of Status Application pending. Applicants’ priority dates will need to be current under the final action chart for an immigrant visa (green card) to be adjudicated. Therefore, when considering interfiling to EB-2, applicants should look at whether they are current in Chart A (Final Action Dates) and whether they are only current under EB-2.
The EIG team closely monitors changes to the monthly visa bulletin and determines the best action plan for each case. We will reach out to individuals whose priority date will be current next month to initiate the next step of the green card process.
For more information about the Visa Bulletin, we’ve summarized and answered frequently asked questions here. We encourage you to read this article to better understand what your priority date means.
The complete Visa Bulletin for September 2022 can be found here.