The Department of State (DOS) has issued its March 2020 Visa Bulletin. Overall, most employment categories will have modest forward movement, although the employment-based category 3, will have a significant 37-month retrogression for most nationals.  

Employment-based category 1 (“EB-1) for most nationals advances by three months. It advances by ten days for Chinese nationals and by two months for Indian nationals in the EB-1 category.

For the EB-2 category, immigrant visas are available for most nationals.  However, for Chinese nationals, the priority date advances by one month while for Indian nationals the priority date moves forward by just three days.

Finally, for the EB-3 category, there will be a significant retrogression of 37-months for most nationals. However, for Chinese nationals the priority date moves forward by nearly three months. The priority date for Indian nationals advances by seven days in March. 

Here’s a chart for ease of reference:

WHAT DATES IN THE VISA BULLETIN SHOULD YOU USE FOR FILING YOUR ADJUSTMENT OF STATUS APPLICATION WITH USCIS?

If USCIS determines that there are more immigrant visas available for a fiscal year than there are known applicants for such visas, then USCIS will state here that you may use the Dates for Filing Visa Applications chart in the Department of State Visa Bulletin, which usually has dates earlier than the Final Action Dates noted above. Otherwise, USCIS will indicate on its website that you must use the Application Final Action Dates chart (above) to determine when you may file your adjustment of status application in the United States. 

For March 2020, USCIS has confirmed the Dates for Filing chart should be used as detailed below: 

If the priority date for your employment-based category is before the date listed above and you are in the United States, you may file your application to adjust status along with the applications for employment authorization and travel permission (assuming you have no bars to admissibility) with USCIS.

The entire visa bulletin is available on the State Department’s website, which includes priority dates for family-based categories and the diversity visa lottery. 

If you would like more information on how to understand the monthly visa bulletin, please check out our blog post on this topic.

This alert is for informational purposes only.  Please contact us if you would like to discuss these developments further.