The Department of State (DOS) has issued its October 2020 Visa Bulletin.  October 1 marks the start of the new fiscal year so all the immigrant visa categories benefit from new visa numbers and most immigrant visa applicants will see progress in their place in line for permanent residence.   

The big news for October is that the date for filing available to Indian nationals under EB-3 has leapt forward by six years to January 1, 2015, and by over two years to September 1, 2020, for Indians and Chinese nationals under EB-1.  This means 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 in October if your priority date is before these dates.   This does not mean your permanent residence will be approved any time soon, but it does open up your options to change employers once your application to adjust status has been pending 180 days.  Please do not hesitate to contact me if  you would like to discuss your options further in this regard. 

To give you context, we have a five-year retrospective of the movement of priority dates for employment-based cases at the end of this post. 

What’s Happening in October 2020? 

Here is a summary of how things look in October 2020.  For the EB-1 category, immigrant visas  continue to be available for most nationals.  The priority date for EB-1 advances by three months for both Chinese and Indian nationals.  

For the EB-2 category, immigrant visas also continue to be available for most nationals.  The priority date for both Chinese and Indian nationals moves forward by two months.

For the EB-3 category, the priority date has become available for most nationals. The priority advances by five months for Chinese nationals and three months for Indian nationals. 

Unfortunately, on the family side, there is no movement in priority dates. 

Here are charts for ease of reference:

Family-based Movement:  Overall, all family-based categories had no movement.

The categories are:

• F-1 category:  unmarried sons and daughters of U.S. citizens

• F2-A category: spouses and children under 21 of lawful permanent residents

• F2-B category: unmarried adult children (over 21) of lawful permanent residents

• F-3 category:  married sons and daughters of U.S. citizens

• F-4 category:  siblings of U.S. citizens

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 October 2020, USCIS has confirmed the Dates for Filing (below) chart should be used for all employment-based categories.

For family-based categories, USCIS has announced that F2A applicants may file using the Final Action Dates chart (above). Applicants in all other family-sponsored preference categories must use the Dates for Filing chart provided below.

If the priority date for your employment or family-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 in October. 

The entire visa bulletin is available on the State Department’s website, which includes the diversity visa lottery. 

A FIVE-YEAR RETROSPECTIVE

For immigrant visa applicants in categories that are backlogged, understanding the long- term patterns may be helpful.  Below is a chart showing the movement in the three categories over the last five years.

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.