July 19, 2005 - The State Department has released the Visa Bulletin for August 2005, advising that due to high demand, "it might be necessary to establish an Employment Second preference cut-off date for September to keep visa issuances within the annual numerical limits set by law. If required, such a cut-off date is likely to be limited to the China-mainland born and India chargeability areas." The Visa Bulletin may be accessed at: http://www.usabal.com/processing/visabulletin.html

Previously, we had reported that green cards in the EB3 category are temporarily unavailable, at least until October 2005. While green cards in the EB2 category are expected to remain available, the State Department now appears poised to implement some restriction on availability of green cards for applicants from India and China beginning in September.

The State Department's priority date system directly impacts employment based green card applicants in the following ways:

1. Individuals from India or China who have an approved application for labor certification and whose applications place them in the EB2 category, but who have not yet filed their I-485 application for adjustment of status may experience delays before they are able to file their I-485 applications. These individuals would become eligible to file their I-485 applications 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);
   
2. Individuals who have filed their I-485 application for adjustment of status would 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;
   
3. Individuals with approved I-140 petitions will not be eligible to apply for their immigrant visa through a US consulate in their home country until their priority date becomes current; they 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.
   

Current priority dates may be monitored by consulting our website using the link shown above. Berry, Appleman & Leiden will continue to report updates on visa availability and priority date cutoffs as they become available.