December 2016 Visa Bulletin Released
The U.S. Department of State (DOS) recently released the December 2016 Visa Bulletin.
Next month’s Visa Bulletin reports slight advancements in the Final Action Dates Chart. Most notably, the EB-2 and EB-3 categories for China have advanced by 2 months. Additionally, the EB-2 category for India has advanced by 3 months, and the EB-3 category for the Philippines has advanced by 2 months.
Next month’s Visa Bulletin reports no changes in the Dates for Filing Chart. That is, all categories remain unchanged since the November 2016 Visa Bulletin.
PLEASE NOTE: At this time, USCIS is accepting pre-filings for the EB-1, EB-2, EB-3 and EB-4 based categories. However, USCIS is not accepting pre-filing for the EB-5 based category. For more information, please visit the USCIS website.
The December 2016 Visa Bulletin can be further summarized below:
Application Final Action Dates (dates when visas may be issued):
EB-1
- All countries are current. This 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 September 22, 2012. This category advanced by 2 months, 7 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 February 1, 2008. This category advanced by 3 months.
- All persons in the worldwide quota, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, and the Philippines are current. This 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 current if they have a priority date before the cut-off date of July 1, 2016. This 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 July 1, 2013. This category advanced by 2 months, 16 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 March 15, 2005. This category advanced by 7 days.
- 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 June 1, 2011. This category advanced by 2 months.
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 July 15, 2015. This category remains unchanged.
- Persons in the worldwide quota, China, India, Mexico, and the Philippines are current. This 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 March 22, 2014. This category advanced by 14 days.
- Persons in the worldwide quota, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, India, Mexico, and the Philippines are current. This category remains unchanged.
Date for Filing Applications (earliest dates when applicants may be able to apply)
EB-1
- All countries are current. This 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 March 1, 2013. 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 April 22, 2009. This category remains unchanged.
- Persons in the worldwide quota, Mexico, and the Philippines are current. This 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 May 1, 2014. 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 July 1, 2005. This 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 September 1, 2013. This category remains unchanged.
- Persons in the worldwide quota and Mexico are current. This category remains unchanged.
EB-4
- All countries are current. This 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 June 15, 2014. This category remains unchanged.
- Persons in the worldwide quota, India, Mexico, and the Philippines are current. This category remains unchanged.
The complete Visa Bulletin for December 2016 can be found here.