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October 2015 Visa Bulletin - What Just Happened

Robert Webber

U.S. Immigration Attorney ([email protected])

发布日期: 2015年9月10日

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September 10, 2015 – From Bob Webber ([email protected])

The Oct 2015 Visa Bulletin – What Just Happened

There is a quota (limit) to how many green cards can be approved each year in employment-based categories.
Because there is excess demand (oversubscription), there is a long line in many categories – most notably for Webber Law clients in the India and China EB-2 and EB-3 categories.
The federal government’s fiscal year starts October 1, so the 140,000 immigrant visas (green cards) available each year are replenished on October 1. In theory then, the most immigrant visas are available on October 1 and then they are used throughout the year, running out in September.
To deal with the excess demand, each month the US Department of State (DOS) publishes a Visa Bulletin to tell people how fast the lines are moving.
Your spot in line is known as your priority date. Your priority date is generally based on when the PERM labor certification application was filed for you by a sponsoring employer. So people from India and China have often been waiting several years for their priority date to become current, allowing them to finish the green card process.
Yesterday – Sept 9, 2015 – DOS published the Oct 2015 Visa Bulletin, which implicates filings on or after Oct 1, 2015, through Oct 30, 2015 (Oct 31 being a Saturday).
The Oct 2015 bulletin announced a very significant change. Historically the DOS only published one date per category. That date controlled both when an I-485 final stage green card application could be filed and when an I-485 application could be approved.
So, historically, if you are from India or China in the EB-2 or EB-3 categories, you have to wait to file your I-485 application based on the date published in the Visa Bulletin, which is based on the DOS estimate of where you are in line and how fast the line is moving.
As of the Oct 2015 Visa Bulletin, DOS will start publishing two dates each month. One date controls when you can file your I-485 and one date controls when your I-485 can be approved. The “when you can file” date was moved up significantly, particularly for India EB-2, meaning that many people who have been waiting for a long time can now file their I-485 final stage green card applications. There are all kinds of benefits to immigrants because of this change. And importantly it means your favorite EB immigration lawyer will be swamped with work for the next several weeks.
This is a major change and it should continue each month (well, until someone sues the Obama Administration for not complying with APA ‘notice and comment’ - but that’s off the topic for now…).
EB-2 India went from a date of January 1, 2006 (per the Sept 2015 Visa Bulletin) to July 1, 2011 (per the Oct 2015 Visa Bulletin). This is the new “high water mark” for EB-2 India.

To better understand these wait times, at least based on the historical system, please review the Webber Law presentation here on the long wait for EB-2 India (2,500 views – not bad!):

https://prezi.com/bgclc7d1eu2w/the-long-wait-for-eb-2-india/

Robert Webber

U.S. Immigration Attorney ([email protected])

9 年

Hello Janani (Jambunathan) Kalavagunta - thanks for your comment. Being able to file an I-485 application allows a foreign national the ability to obtain an EAD work permit and AP travel permit. This is true for the principal (sponsored candidate) plus spouse and children under 21. People from some countries have a very difficult time obtaining travel visas due to security check delays, so having AP travel authorization is a big plus. Spouses and children having EAD work permits is a big plus. Children getting towards age 21 who have I-485 applications are protected from "aging out" - because if your child turns 21 before you can file your I-485 application, then it is possible the child will "age out" and not be eligible to adjust status to green card status as a derivative child. Also, after the I-485 application has been pending 180 days, the principal sponsored candidate can utilize AC21 portability. I wrote about that provision several years ago here (still stand by what I wrote): https://www.avvo.com/legal-guides/ugc/how-to-utilize-ac21-portability-for-employment-based-immigration. Another advantage that will exist for employers is that this visa bulletin change will allow employers to recruit F-1 students (particularly STEM graduates) and utilize them on F-1 OPT and STEM OPT and then sponsor them for green cards and potentially get them into the I-485 final stage green card process with an EAD which allows the employer (and sponsored employee) to sidestep the need for an H-1B, which is increasingly difficult because of the H-1B cap (and the politics that keeps us from increasing the cap). I hope to elaborate on these topics in future posts. When I get my head above water after all the cases I have to file in October!