As a part of the regular monthly process, the U.S. Department of State recently issued the visa bulletin for March 2023. It is a crucial document imposing per-country cut-off dates that regulate green card or immigrant visa availability and the flow of the Adjustment of status applications and consular immigrant visa application filings and approvals.
If we go by the basic definition, USCIS uses the visa bulletin to communicate to aspiring green card applicants already living in the U.S. whether they should file for their Adjustment of status applications based on the “Final action dates” or “the dates of filing.”. The Visa Bulletin also communicates to the Consulates if they can approve a Green Card Petition for applicants living out side the country. An essential term in any visa bulletin is the “priority date”. The Priority date is mentioned on the Immigrant Visa Approval, it could be the date the Labor Certification was filed in an employment based case or the date the Immigrant petition was filed, in some employment based cases and all family based cases.
Key highlights :
Let’s dive deep into the March 2023 visa bulletin and check how dates have moved, especially for the Employment-based category of green cards, which are the most sought-after. As a part of setting the premise, we can look at some of the key highlights of the March 2023 visa bulletin:
- The cut-off dates for the EB-1 category remain the same as June 1, 2023, for both India and China when we compare with dates from the Feb 2023 visa bulletin.
- When we look at dates for the EB-2 category for other nations (countries other than China, India, Philippines, Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras), they remain the same on December 1, 2022, compared with last month’s bulletin. We must remember that this date has remained unchanged since December 2022. For India and China as well the priority dates remain the same.
What are the changes specifically with Employment-based Green categories?
EB-1 and EB-2 are the most sought-after employment-based green categories for professionals with exceptional ability or advanced degrees in various technical and managerial fields.
EB-1 category
Looking at the March 2023 visa bulletin, we can easily say that the date is “current” for all chargeability areas other than India and China, which means applicants from these other countries can start filing their I-485 ( Adjustment of status) applications immediately.
In recent months, we have noticed a rising demand for the EB-1 category, resulting in the retrogression of cut-off dates for Indian and Chinese nationals. Still, the same has remained the same in March 2023 compared to February dates.
Read Alaso Complete Guide to H1B Visa 2024
EB-2 category
The mover and shakers for the EB-2 category in the March 2023 visa bulletin are:
- The cut-off dates in China remain on July 8, 2019, so if one has a priority date before or on this date can start filing their I-485(Adjustment of status) application immediately.
- If we look at cut-offs for applicants with India as their chargeability area, it remains the same as the Feb 2023 visa bulletin on May 1, 2022.
- Like India and China, the cut-off dates of chargeability areas which include El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico, the Philippines, and the rest of the world, remain the same as February December 1, 2022.
EB-3 category
When looking at this new bulletin from the perspective of the EB-3 category, the cut-off dates for China and India are September 1, 2018, and August 1, 2012, respectively. For chargeability areas, it is current.
Key takeaways:
The cut-offs in the March bulletin for all employment-based green categories remain unchanged when we compare the same with the February visa bulletin, only with retrogression in the EB-4 category.
The Law Offices of Prashanthi Reddy will continue to monitor and analyze all future developments that might impact your place in line in the green card application. To keep track of the news on U.S. Immigration and USCIS, one can follow this space. You can Read Here all Latest Visa Bulletin News
