The Department of State (DOS) has issued its June 2023 Visa Bulletin, which has no movement across all employment and family-based categories. Continuing with the retrogressions, cutoff dates, and lack of movement we’ve seen over the past few months, the Department of State has indicated that the EB-3 final action date for India may retrogress as soon as next month due to high demand. These trends may continue until October 1, 2023, when the new fiscal year starts and more green cards become available.

Employment-based Movement

The EB-1 category remains open (or “current” in DOS talk) for nationals of all countries except for China and India, which continue to have a moderate backlog.

The EB-2 category continues to have a modest backlog for most countries (not including India and China). The government is currently working on EB-2 cases with a priority date of February 15, 2022. The priority dates for EB-2 China and EB-2 India both remain the same as last month.

The EB-3 category cut off date remains for nationals of all countries (other than India and China, which have different priority dates), with a priority date of June 1, 2022. The priority dates for EB-3 China and EB-3 India both remain the same.

Here’s a chart for ease of reference:

Family-based Movement

Final action dates for all family-based categories remain the same as last month.

By way of reminder, 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 later 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 June 2023, USCIS has confirmed the Final Action Dates (above) should be used for employment-based categories. 

For family-based categories, the Dates for Filing (chart below) should be used.

If the priority date for your 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 June. 

The entire visa bulletin is available on the State Department’s website, which includes information on the diversity visa lottery and the EB-5 priority dates. 

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.