December 2009 Visa Bulletin

The employment-based first preference (EB1) category remains current for all chargeability areas. The employment-based second preference (EB2) category stands at April 1, 2005 for China, January 22, 2005 for India, and remains current for Mexico, the Philippines, and all other countries. The employment-based third preference (EB3) category stands at 2002 for all countries, except for India which stands at May 1, 2001.

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

EB1: Current for all categories.

EB2: China—April 1, 2005. India—January 22, 2005. All other countries are current.

EB3: China—June 1, 2002. India—May 1, 2001. Mexico—June 1, 2002. Philippines—June 1, 2002. All other countries—June 1, 2002.

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, although rare in occurrence, categories may become unavailable in the middle of the month.

The availability of visas is published based on data collected from consular officers and the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). Both are required to report the number of foreign nationals who qualify for immigrant visas in the different categories to the Department of State. 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 allocated a visa number. These individuals then become eligible to complete the permanent resident process through the filing of a Form I-485 with the USCIS or Immigrant Visa application with the U.S. Consulate abroad.

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