The Department of State (DOS) recently released the September 2018 Visa Bulletin. The charts below show movement in employment-based categories. Referring to the Final Action Dates, following are updates from the September Visa Bulletin:

EB-1: Mainland China and India had no movement, with a cutoff date of Jan. 1, 2012, while El Salvador/Guatemala/Honduras, Mexico, Philippines, and Vietnam all moved forward a month, from May 1, 2016, to June 1, 2016.

EB-2: The cutoff date for worldwide chargeability, mainland China, El Salvador/Guatemala/Honduras, Mexico, Philippines, and Vietnam retrogressed to Jan. 1, 2013, and India retrogressed to Jan. 1, 2007. Retrogression for the EB-2 category goes into effect immediately and will remain through Sept. 30.

EB-3:  In the EB-3 category, the cutoff date for worldwide chargeability, El Salvador/Guatemala/Honduras, Mexico, Philippines, and Vietnam retrogressed to Nov. 1, 2016.  China moved forward four months to Nov. 1, 2014. India had significant change, retrogressing six years to Jan. 1, 2003. All EB-3 retrogressions go into effect immediately and will remain through Sept. 30.

For those in the EB-5 category, the priority date remains current for all applicants other than those born in mainland China and Vietnam, where the cutoff advanced from Aug. 1, 2014 to Aug. 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. This has not yet been updated with the September 2018 dates; however, we anticipate that USCIS will continue to follow Application Final Action Dates for September, as it has to date.

Referring to the Final Action Dates, the following are the updates for the June Visa Bulletin:

Final Action Dates for Employment-Based Preference Cases

Dates for Filing Employment-Based Visa Applications