April 2023 Visa Bulletin – Slight Thaw for EB-3 China, Retrogression for EB-2 India and Rest of World
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, or if already pending, when the final step can be adjudicated.
Below is a summary of the April Visa Bulletin, including Final Action Dates and changes from the previous month.
China: EB-1 and EB-2 remain frozen at February 1, 2022, and June 8, 2019, respectively. EB-3 and EB-3 Other Workers both advance 3 months, the former to November 1, 2018; the latter to October 1, 2014.
India: No movement, except backward: EB-1 stalls at February 1, 2022; EB-2 retrogresses more than 9 months to January 1, 2011; EB-3 and EB-3 Other Workers hold at June 15, 2012.
All Other Countries: No movement, except backward: EB-1 and EB-3 remain current; EB-2 retrogresses 4 months to July 1, 2022; EB-3 Other Workers holds at January 1, 2020.
NOTE 1: U.S. immigration agencies continue to experience higher than expected demand in the EB-2 preference category. To keep number use within the Fiscal Year 2023 annual limits, the State Department has retrogressed EB-2 final action dates for all geographic areas except China, which has not advanced since October 2022.
NOTE 2: USCIS has not yet announced if it will accept I-485 applications in April based on the Department of State’s slightly more favorable Dates for Filing chart.
Josefina Augusto, Carol Schlenker, Emily Burkhardt Vicente, Lieselot Whitbeck, Kevin White, and Courtland Witherup also contributed to this article.
