The U.S. Department of State (DOS) published the Monthly Visa Bulletin for May 2017, which shows minor advancement in the “final action cut-off” dates and significant movement forward and backward in the “filing cut-off” dates.

Final Action Cut-off Dates

Notable advancements of final action dates are:

• EB-2 China – 3 weeks forward to 08 Feb 2013
• EB-3 China – 1 ½ months forward to 01 Oct 2014
• EB-2 India – no movement
• EB-3 India – 1 day forward to 25 Mar 2005
• EB-3 & Other Workers Philippines – 3 ½ months forward to 01 Jan 2013
• EB-3 & Other Workers El Salvador, Guatemala & Honduras – 1 month forward to 15 Mar 2017
• EB-3 & Other Workers – Worldwide – 1 month forward to 15 Mar 2017

Visa availability under the EB-5 immigrant investor category remains current for all chargeability areas except China, which has a final action date that advanced two (2) weeks, to June 1, 2014, and a filing date of September 1, 2014.

Filing Cut-off Dates

As Foster noted in prior Immigration Updates, the “filing cut-off dates” had not changed between the December 2016 and April 2017 Visa Bulletins.  This May 2017 Visa Bulletin shows significant forward advancement in the filing cut-off dates for EB-2 and EB-3 from China as well as EB-3 and Other Workers from India and the Philippines.  Significant backward movement may be seen in the filing dates for EB-2 from India and Other Workers category from China.

Each month the USCIS anticipates separately confirming one week after issuance of the Visa Bulletin whether applicants may file based on the earlier “filing cut-off date” or the “final action cut-off date.” The applicant’s priority date must be current under the “final action cut-off date” before USCIS can finally approve the application. For the months of March and April, the final action dates were the applicable dates.

Contact Foster Now to Proceed with New Applications

Applicants who become eligible to file applications beginning May 1, 2017 are encouraged to contact their Foster immigration attorney now to start the process of preparing and filing of an I-485 Application to Adjust Status. By initiating these new applications as soon as possible, applicants could be in a position to file for Lawful Permanent Residency as soon as they are eligible on May 1, 2017.

As always, Foster will continue to monitor immigrant visa availability and the procedures that allow for filing Applications to Adjust Status to Lawful Permanent Resident and will provide additional information in future Immigration Updates^© and on our firm’s website at www.fosterglobal.com.