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Last Updated On: September 29, 2023 | Published On: August 14, 2015
The September 2015 Visa Bulletin has officially been released by the U.S. Department of State. As with each visa bulletin that is released, there are some noteworthy changes in regards to priority dates. In this post, we’ll describe each update as it pertains to the immigration category and offer some predictions for future bulletins.
The most recent visa bulletin contains significant changes for those born in India as well as advantageous changes for the third-preference employment-based category for India. Specifically, we notice a retrogression for the employment-based, second preference or EB-2 category and advances in the EB-3 category for India.
As we briefly mentioned, the September 2015 Visa Bulletin outlines a number of changes in the employment-based visa category since the last visa bulletin was released.
EB-1: The cut-off dates for the EB-1 category are current for all areas of chargeability.
EB-2: All areas of chargeability in the EB-2 category remain current, as well as Mexico and the Philippines. However, the cutoff dates for both China and Philippines have retrogressed to January 1, 2006. This is a noteable change for India which was originally October 1, 2008 and also for China which retrogressed about eight years from Dec. 15, 2013.
EB-3: In the employment-based third preference category Mexico advances by about one month as well as all countries of chargeability. Both China and India see advancements in the EB-3 category–China by 6 months and India almost 6 months as well.
In the “other workers” category, all areas of chargeability and Mexico have a date of Aug. 15, 2015. India and the Philippines, on the contrary, have cutoff dates of Dec. 22, 2004 and China is at January 1, 2004.
EB-4: Remains current.
Certain Religious Workers: Remains current.
EB-5: Remains current with the exception of China at September 22, 2013.
See below for the complete chart detailing the September 2015 Visa Bulletin as it pertains to the employment-based category.
Within the family-based category (F1), all areas of chargeability including China and India have dates of Dec. 15, 2007. Mexico has a new date of November 15, 1994 and Philippines changes to October 22, 2000. For the family-based 2A category, all areas of chargeability are March 1, 2014 as well as China, Philippines and India. Mexico’s priority date is Feb. 1, 2014. For other family-based cut-off dates, it’s best to refer to the official September 2015 Visa Bulletin.
In the last 6 months we’ve seen a tremendous shift forward for the EB-2 category for both china and India. Unfortunately, the retrogression we see in the September 2015 Visa Bulletin halt this trend. Nonetheless, when the new FY starts in October more visa numbers will be made available and we may see this advancement resume.
Is your priority date current? If it is, that’s great news! Our Fort Lauderdale immigration lawyers are on-hand and ready to assist you start the immigration process. We offer free immigration consultations for employment-based cases as well as selected family-based cases.
To stay up-to-date on the latest immigration news (as released by the DOS) it’s best to subscribe to our newsletter. There, you’ll receive word of new developments, changes with the law and other important immigration information directly to your inbox. Need additional help understanding the September 2015 Visa Bulletin? Contact our Fort Lauderdale immigration attorneys by phone or email.
