As an update to our prior post, Mr. Charlie Oppenheim, Chief of the Visa Control and Reporting Division of the U.S. Department of State (DOS), recently gave another update on employment-based permanent residence and retrogression.

According to visa usage trends, it is speculated by Mr. Oppenheimthat significant backward movement will occur for several immigrant visa categories in the upcoming DOS Visa Bulletins. Mr. Oppenheim predicts that the EB-2 category for Indian nationals will experience significant visa retrogression by the end of the year, potentially creating backlogs as far back to 2005. In addition, the EB-3 category for Indian nationals is expected to progress only slightly in the next few months, while there is likely to be significant movement forward for foreign nationals from all other countries the EB-3 category.

Other developments noted by the DOS include a significant increase in popularity in the EB-1 and EB-5 visa categories. Thus, it is predicted that the EB-5 category for Chinese nationals will experience retrogression, potentially one to years of visa backlog, at some point during the fiscal year 2015.