NEWS

US Department of State Visa Bulletin for November 2016 and Future Projections

According to Charles  Oppenheim, Chief of the Visa Control and Reporting Division, U.S. Department of State, the following are his predictions for immigrant visa number movement from November 2016:

EB-1 China, EB-1 India, and EB-1 Worldwide:  These categories will remain current in November and for the foreseeable futureA retrogression of the EB-1 category is not expected for the first half of the fiscal year.

EB-2 Worldwide:  This category will remain current in November and retrogression is not expected in the foreseeable future. It is likely that EB-2 India will advance at a four month pace and that in November, EB-2 India will advance nine months to November 1, 2007. Also, it is predicted that numbers will continue to advance in this category for the foreseeable future.

EB-2 China:  This category moved forward by four months to July 15, 2012, and it is likely to reach at least September 2012 by February 2017.

EB-3 China:  This category advanced three months to April 15, 2013. EB-2 China was previously up to September 2012, and is likely to recover to that date no later than February 2017.

EB-5 China:  This category advanced two weeks, with a November final action date of March 8, 2014. Since this category was only temporarily reauthorized, absent congressional action prior to issuance of the December Visa Bulletin, the EB-5 China Regional Centers will most likely see it as “unavailable” for December. If that occurs, the DOS will provide guidance as to the final action date.

EB-4 El Salvador/Guatemala/Honduras:  This category advanced to July 15, 2015.  However, any forward movement in the final action date will be slow.

EB-4 India and EB-4 Mexico:  These categories remain current.