June 2016 Visa Bulletin Released
The U.S. Department of State has released the June 2016 Visa Bulletin. Next month’s Visa Bulletin reports significant regressions in the Final Action Dates Chart.
Most notably, the China EB2 and EB3 categories show a regression of 2 years, 8 months and over 3 years, 7 months, respectively. The India EB2 category has a regression of over 4 years and 1 month. The U.S. Department of State (DOS) observes that this regression is due to extremely high levels of Employment-based demand for adjustment of status cases that have been filed with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). DOS expects for the India EB2 category to advance slowly in the last 3 months of the fiscal year, but does not expect China EB2 or EB3 categories to advance within the year. Mexico EB2 and EB3 categories show an advancement of over 1 year and Philippines EB2 and EB3 categories show an advancement of exactly 1 year. As before, the EB1 categories for all countries remain current in Final Action Dates.
In the June 2016 Visa Bulletin, the Dates for Filing Chart, EB1, EB2, and EB3 categories remain unchanged since the April 2016 Visa Bulletin.
PLEASE NOTE: At this time, USCIS is not accepting pre-filings for any employment based categories. EIG will continue to monitor the situation and will notify individuals once their priority date is current for filing. For more information, please visit the USCIS website.
The Visa Bulletin can be further summarized below:
Application Final Action Dates (dates when visas may be issued):
EB-1
- All countries remain current.
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 January 1, 2010. This category has retrogressed by 2 years and 8 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 October 1, 2004. This category has retrogressed by 4 years, 1 month, and 21 days.
- The worldwide quota, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, and the Philippines remain current.
EB-3
- Persons in the EB-3 category and falling into the worldwide quota are current if they have a priority date before the cut-off date of February 15, 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 January 1, 2010. This category has retrogressed by 3 years, 7 months, and 14 days.
- Persons in the EB-3 category and born in El Salvador, Guatemala, or Honduras are current if they have a priority date before the cut-off date of February 15, 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 September 22, 2004. This category has advanced by 21 days.
- Persons in the EB-3 category and born in Mexico are current if they have a priority date before the cut-off date of February 15, 2016. 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 November 1, 2008. This category has advanced by 2 months and 24 days.
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 January 1, 2010. This category remains unchanged.
- The worldwide quota, China, India, Mexico, and the Philippines remain current.
EB-5
- Persons in the EB-5 category Non Regional Center (C5 and T5) and born in China are current if they have a priority date before the cut-off date of February 15, 2014. This category has advanced by 7 days.
- The worldwide quota, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, India, Mexico, and the Philippines remain current.
Dates for Filing Applications (earliest dates when applicants may be able to apply):
EB-1
- All countries remain current.
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 June 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 July 1, 2009. This category remains unchanged.
- The worldwide quota, Mexico, and the Philippines remain current.
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, 2015. 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 January 1, 2010. This category remains unchanged.
- The worldwide quota and Mexico are now current.
EB-4
- All countries are current.
EB-5
- Persons in the EB-5 category and born in China are current if they have a priority date before the cut-off date of May 1, 2015. This category remains unchanged.
- The worldwide quota, India, Mexico, and the Philippines remain current.
The complete Visa Bulletin for June 2016 can be found here.