Employment-based China and India First Preference and Worldwide Second Preference cutoff dates become “current” once again.

The US Department of State (DOS) has released its October 2016 Visa Bulletin. The Visa Bulletin sets out per-country priority date cutoffs that regulate immigrant visa availability and the flow of adjustment of status and consular immigrant visa application filings and approvals.

What Does the October 2016 Visa Bulletin Say?

The October 2016 Visa Bulletin includes a Dates for Filing Visa Applications chart and an Application Final Action Dates chart. The former indicates when intending immigrants may file their applications for adjustment of status or immigrant visas, and the latter indicates when an adjustment of status application or immigrant visa application may be approved and permanent residence granted.

If the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) determine that there are more immigrant visas available for a fiscal year than there are known applicants for such visas, it will state on its website that applicants may use the Dates for Filing Visa Applications chart. Otherwise, applicants should use the Application Final Action Dates chart to determine when they may file their adjustment of status applications. It is not yet clear which chart the USCIS will select for October 2016 filings. To be eligible to file an employment-based (EB) adjustment application in October 2016, foreign nationals must have a priority date that is earlier than the date listed below for their preference category and country (changes from last month’s Visa Bulletin dates are shown in yellow).

Application Final Action Dates

Dates for Filing Visa Applications

How This Affects You

On the Application Final Action Dates chart, the cutoff dates for EB-1 will once again be “current” for all chargeable countries, including India and China. EB-2 cutoff dates for the worldwide allotment, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, and Philippines will be “current” as well. Cutoff dates for EB-2 India and EB-2 China will advance by slightly more than two years (China to February 15, 2012 and India to January 15, 2007).

EB-3 final action cutoff dates for the worldwide allotment, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico will advance by one month to June 1, 2016. The final action cutoff date for EB-3 China will advance by more than three years to January 22, 2013. EB-3 India will advance by two weeks to March 1, 2005, and EB-3 Philippines will advance by five months to December 1, 2010. The EB-5 China cutoff date will remain unchanged at February 15, 2014.

The DOS confirmed that the EB-1 allotment should remain current in the coming months, the allotments for China should see modest advancement of three months, and the allotment for India will advance by up to four months. EB-1 allotments will return to “current” status for October. The EB-3 category may see retrogression in the worldwide classification with advancements of up to three months for EB-3 China and up to one week for EB-3 India.

Read the entire October 2016 Visa Bulletin.