The Department of State (DOS) released the July 2017 Visa Bulletin. The final action dates for Chinese and Indian nationals in the employment-based, first preference (EB-1) category remain unchanged with cutoff dates of Jan. 1, 2012.  It is expected that this EB-1 retrogression for China and India will last until October 2017 when the new fiscal year starts. The cutoff date for all other nationals in the EB-1 category remains current.

The cutoff date for worldwide chargeability in the EB-2 category remains current but for mainland China and India, where there is a slight advancement of three weeks to March 22, 2013, for China and July 22, 2008, for India.

In the EB-3 category, the cutoff date for worldwide chargeability, as well as for El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico, advances almost two months from April 15, 2017, to June 8, 2017, while the Philippines advances more than one year to May 15, 2014. The EB-3 cutoff date for India has a notable advancement to February 15, 2006, but the EB-3 cutoff date for mainland China retrogresses significantly to Jan. 1, 2012.

For those in the EB-5 category, the priority date remains current for all applicants other than those born in mainland China, where there is no change and the cutoff date remains at June 8, 2014.

For those seeking to adjust status, The United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) website indicates that the Department’s Application Final Action Dates chart must be used for filing Form I-485 in June. This has not yet been updated with the July 2017 dates; however, based on recent trends where Dates for Filing Visa Applications have been consistently disregarded, we anticipate that USCIS will continue to follow Application Final Action Dates for July as well.

Final Action Dates for Employment-Based Preference Cases