February Visa Bulletin Out - Movement on EB-3

The Department of State released the February 2015 visa bulletin a little while ago and the EB-3 category was the big mover this month. The DOS moved the date for EB-3s to January 1, 2014 a jump of about 6 months. This was for all countries except China and India, which stayed at their previous dates of September 1, 2011 for China and December 22, 2003 for India. China EB-2 dates moved forward about 1 month to March 15, 2010 while India EB-2 dates moved forward about 7 months to September 1, 2005.

In terms of family based cases, while there was slight movement forward in most categories, it was very slight so we will not discuss it here.

Lastly, DOS did provide some guidance on where they think the dates will progress from here. DOS sees China EB-2 numbers only moving forward 3-6 weeks in the next couple of months, and India dates moving forward about four to six months. In terms of EB-3 numbers, there will probably be some additional forward movement, but there will also be retrogression in the next few months because of the increased usage in this category stemming from the rapid movement forward over the last couple of months.

Please remember, as always, this blog does not offer legal advice. If you need legal advice, consult with a lawyer instead of a blog. Thank you.