The Department of State (DOS) has issued its July 2023 Visa Bulletin, which has moderate movement across the majority of employment and family-based categories other than the EB-3 final action date for India, which will retrogress by nearly three and a half months to January 1, 2009.  The State Department has indicated that priority dates for EB-3 may continue to retrogress given high demand under this category.  Generally, as we progress further into the fiscal year, retrogression trends will likely continue until October 1, 2023, when the new fiscal year starts and more green cards become available. 

Family-based final action dates have little to no forward movement this coming month. Unlike some of the employment-based categories, none of the family-based categories will retrogress. In the F-1 category, the only movement is for nationals of Mexico, which will advance by three weeks. In the F-2A category, there is no movement this coming month across all nationalities. For the F-2B category, nationals of Mexico will advance by two months. Worldwide final action dates in the F-3 category will advance two weeks this coming month. In the F-3 category, nationals of Mexico will advance two months and two weeks this coming month. In the F-4 category, worldwide final action dates will advance two weeks this coming month, while all other family-based final action dates will remain the same as last month. 

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 that has not made any progress the last few months. 

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

The EB-3 category cut off date will retrogress by four months for nationals of all countries (other than India and China, which have different priority dates), with a  new priority date of February 1, 2022.  Most significantly, however, the priority date for EB-3 India retrogresses dramatically by nearly three and a half years to January 1, 2009. The priority date for EB-3 China remains the same.

Here’s a chart for ease of reference:

Family-based Movement

Final action dates for family-based preference categories generally have little to no movement.  For the F-1 category, the only movement is for nationals of Mexico, which advances by three weeks. 

For the F-2A category, there is no movement this coming month across all nationalities. 

For the F-2B category, the only movement is for nationals of Mexico, which advances by two months. 

For the F-3 category, worldwide final action dates will advance two weeks this coming month. Further, nationals of Mexico will advance two months and two weeks this coming month. 

In the F-4 category, worldwide final action dates will advance two weeks this coming month, while all other family-based final action dates will 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 July 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 and 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 in July. 

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.