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December 9, 2004 - The State Department today released
the Visa Bulletin for January 2005, confirming that beginning
on January 1, 2005, the priority date cutoff for green card
applicants from China, India, and the Philippines in the employment-based
third preference (EB3) category will be January 1, 2002. The
Visa Bulletin may be accessed at: http://www.usabal.com/processing/visabulletin.html
As previously reported, this means that for EB3 applicants
from China, India, and the Philippines, their eligibility
to file an I-485 application for Adjustment of Status, and
the rate at which pending applications in these categories
would be approved and issued, would be restricted according
to the State Department's priority date system. Each immigrant
visa petition has a priority date associated with it (e.g.,
the date the original application for labor certification
was filed, or the date the I-140 petition was filed if no
labor certification was required in the category).
The priority date system directly impacts employment based
green card applicants in the following ways:
- Individuals who have not yet filed their I-485 application
for adjustment of status will be eligible to file that application
only when their priority date is current (i.e., the priority
date is on or before the cutoff date published monthly by
the State Department in the Visa Bulletin);
- Individuals who have filed their I-485 application for
adjustment of status will not have their green cards approved
until their priority date is current. However, these adjustment
of status applications will continue to be considered to
be pending for the purpose of applying for employment authorization
documents and advance parole documents;
- Individuals with approved I-140 petitions who apply for
their immigrant visa through a US consulate in their home
country must have a current priority date at the time the
immigrant visa application is filed and at the time the
application is approved by the consulate.
The State Department monitors on a monthly basis the number
of immigrant visas or green cards that are issued in each
category and compares this number to the total available for
that category for the year as fixed by statute. When the rate
of approval of immigrant visas (green cards) approaches the
maximum allowable, the State Department begins restricting
the rate at which applications can be filed or approved. This
is done by publishing on a monthly basis the priority date
"cutoffs" for each visa category - immigrant visa
applications with priority dates on or before the published
cutoff date for the category (i.e., their priority date is
"current") can be filed, or if pending, can be approved;
applications with priority dates later than the published
cutoff date cannot be filed or approved (if pending) and must
wait until their priority date becomes "current."
The published cutoff dates may sometimes retrogress (i.e.,
go backward over time rather than forward), according to the
State Department's estimate of usage.
Current priority dates may be monitored by consulting our
website using the link shown above. Berry, Appleman &
Leiden will continue to report updates on priority date cutoffs
as they become available.
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