August 11, 2009

September Visa Bulletin

The employment-based first preference (EB-1) category remains current for all chargeability areas. As expected, the third employment-based preference category (EB-3) will remain unavailable for all countries. Waiting periods for the employment-based second preference (EB-2) category has moved forward from October 1, 2003 to January 8, 2005 for China and India.

The September 2009 priority date cut-offs for the first three employment-based categories are:

EB-1: Current for all countries.

EB-2: China and India – January 8, 2005. All other countries are current.

EB-3: Unavailable for all countries.

If a category is designated as unavailable, the annual quota of immigrant visas has been met and immigrant visas are no longer available in that category. Note that categories may become unavailable in the middle of a month, but it is rare.

The availability of visas is published based on data collected from consular officers and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). Both are required to report to the Department of State the number of foreign nationals who qualify for immigrant visas in the different categories. The bulletin indicated that USCIS made allocations for the demand received by August 10, 2009. Where the demand exceeded the available number of immigrant visas within a category, that category was deemed unavailable. Only applicants with a priority date earlier than the cut-off date may be allotted a visa number. These individuals then become eligible to complete the permanent residence process through the filing of an I-485 with USCIS or an Immigrant Visa application with the U.S. Consulate abroad. The complete visa bulletin may be viewed at: http://travel.state.gov/visa/frvi/bulletin/bulletin_4558.html.