The Department of State (DOS) has issued its July 2020 Visa Bulletin. Overall, most employment categories will have modest forward movement.  One category with a significant eleven-month advancement is  employment-based category 1 (“EB-1”) for Indian nationals.  Otherwise, the employment-based categories 1 and 2 for most nationals remain current.  

For the EB-1 category, immigrant visas  continue to be available for most nationals.  The priority date for EB-1 advances by one week for Chinese nationals and by eleven months for Indian nationals.

For the EB-2 category, immigrant visas also continue to be available for most nationals.  The priority date for Chinese nationals advances by one week while for Indian nationals the priority date moves forward by a little less than a month.

Finally, for the EB-3 category, there will be a five-month advancement from the previous month of June for most nationals.  The priority date moves forward by one week for Chinese nationals, moves forward by two months for nationals of India, and advances a little over five months for nationals of the Philippines. 

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 July 2020, USCIS has confirmed the Final Action Dates (above) chart should be used. 

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.