Business Immigration Insights

The Visa Bulletin is released monthly by the Department of State and is used to determine when a sponsored foreign national can submit the final step of the green card process. The complete visa bulletin can be found here.

Below is a summary of the January Visa Bulletin, including Final Action Dates and changes from the previous month:

• China: EB-1 remains current, EB-2 advances five weeks to August 8, 2013, and EB-3 advances six weeks to April 15, 2014
• India: EB-1 remains current, EB-2 moves ahead 3 weeks to November 22, 2008, and EB-3 finally moves– advancing two weeks to November 1, 2006
• Philippines: EB-2 remains current and EB-3 jumps ahead one month to February 15, 2016
• All Other Countries: All EB categories are current

PLEASE NOTE:  USCIS has not yet announced if it will accept I-485 applications in January based on the Department of State’s Dates for Filing chart. However, the trend over the last several months has been to NOT honor the Dates for Filing chart, and instead only accept I-485 applications based on the Final Action Dates as listed above.