The Department of State (DOS) has issued its July 2022 Visa Bulletin.  The most important takeaways for July are that the priority date for EB-2 India moves forward by three months and EB-2 China moves forward by one month, while EB-3 India and EB-3 China will stay the same as last month. Final action dates for family-based petitions remain largely the same, except for nationals of Mexico, who will move forward  in all categories. The dates for filing for family-based petitions showed forward movement in nearly all categories. 

According to USCIS, there continue to be a large number of employment-based green cards available for EB-1 and EB-2 this fiscal year, which runs from October 2021 to September 2022.  The agency therefore is recommending foreign nationals with pending green card applications (Form I-485) under EB-3 apply to “transfer” to EB-1 or EB-2 if they qualify. They can retain their original priority date for EB-2 and EB-1 processing. Please note that this is a strategic decision requiring analysis of specific circumstances.  The USCIS announcement can be found here. 

The DOS has not yet resumed its discussions about the monthly Visa Bulletin on their YouTube Channel. 

Employment-based Movement

The EB-1 category remains open (“current” or “C” in DOS talk) worldwide, including for Indian and Chinese nationals.  The EB-2 and EB-3 categories also remain open for most nationals except for nationals of China and India. The priority date for EB-2 moves forward for Indian nationals by three months and by one month for Chinese nationals. However, EB-3 dates for India and China remain the same as June.

Here’s a chart for ease of reference:

Family-based Movement

Final action dates for all categories largely remain the same as last month, except for nationals of Mexico, who moved forward in all categories.

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 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 2022, USCIS has confirmed the Final Action Dates chart (above) should be used for employment-based categories.  For family-based categories, the Dates for Filing chart, which is 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 July. 

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