The March 2016 Visa Bulletin is now available online.  The significant news arises in the EB-3 category with respect to dates for filing visa applications: EB-3 Worldwide is now current. EB-3 China has advanced from Oct. 1, 2013, to May 1, 2015, making the native Chinese EB-3 and EB-5 filing dates identical. Compared to February, March 2016 brings modest-to-moderate movement forward in the “final action dates” for the employment-based cases.

Below are the two charts for March 2016:

APPLICATION FINAL ACTION DATES FOR EMPLOYMENT-BASED PREFERENCE CASES

DATES FOR FILING OF EMPLOYMENT-BASED VISA APPLICATIONS

The Visa Bulletin also put forth the following projection of EB visa availability in the coming months, setting the expectations for stakeholders:

• EB-1 : Projected to stay current

• EB-2:

  • Worldwide: Projected to stay current

  • China: Movement up to five months

  • India: Movement up to three months

•  EB-3:

  • Worldwide: Recent forward moment will generate demand – once materialized it will be necessary to establish a cut-off date

  • China: Movement up to five months

  • India:  Movement up to one month

  • Mexico: Will remain at worldwide date

  • Philippines: Movement up to four months

• EB-4: Current “for most countries”

• EB-5:

  • All countries (except China): Will remain current.

  • China: “Slow forward movement”