/>iAs warned by the U.S. Department of State last month, the September 2024 Visa Bulletin shows major retrogression in EB-3 categories, and no advancement in any listed category.
Quick Hits
- The September 2024 Visa Bulletin shows that EB-3, All Chargeability Areas, Mexico, and Philippines categories will retrogress a full year to December 1, 2020.
- The Other Worker, All Chargeability Areas and Mexico categories will also retrogress one month to December 1, 2020.
- All other employment-based categories remain the same as August 2024.
- The State Department confirmed it expects the available quota for most employment-based categories will be fully exhausted during September.
- Final action dates will likely advance in October, at the start of FY 2025.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) also announced in September that it will adopt the final action date chart for employment-based adjustment of status filings.
The final action date chart from the State Department’s September 2024 Visa Bulletin is available below:
| Employment- based |
All Chargeability Areas Except Those Listed |
CHINA- mainland born |
INDIA | MEXICO | PHILIPPINES |
| 1st | C | 01NOV22 | 01FEB22 | C | C |
| 2nd | 15MAR23 | 01MAR20 | 15JUL12 | 15MAR23 | 15MAR23 |
| 3rd | 01DEC20 | 01SEP20 | 22OCT12 | 01DEC20 | 01DEC20 |
| Other Workers | 01DEC20 | 01JAN17 | 22OCT12 | 01DEC20 | 01MAY20 |
| 4th | 01JAN21 | 01JAN21 | 01JAN21 | 01JAN21 | 01JAN21 |
| Certain Religious Workers | 01JAN21 | 01JAN21 | 01JAN21 | 01JAN21 | 01JAN21 |
| 5th Unreserved (including C5, T5, I5, R5) |
C | 15DEC15 | 01DEC20 | C | C |
| 5th Set Aside: Rural (20%) |
C | C | C | C | C |
| 5th Set Aside: High Unemployment (10%) |
C | C | C | C | C |
| 5th Set Aside: Infrastructure (2%) |
C | C | C | C | C |
Source: U.S. Department of State, September 2024 Visa Bulletin
Overall, the State Department and USCIS report a continued growth in the demand for employment-based green card applications for fiscal year (FY) 2024. This led to slowdowns and retrogression for the past few months for employment-based visa preference categories. In the September Visa Bulletin, the State Department announced the total annual limit for worldwide employment-based immigrant visas for FY 2024 is 160,791, down from 197,091 in FY 2023. This is likely due to a decrease in surplus quota from family-based immigrant visas in the past fiscal year, and signals that U.S. immigration trends are returning to pre-pandemic patterns.
The State Department confirmed it expects advancements in the October 2024 Visa Bulletin, when the new fiscal year starts. However, advancements may be modest given that USCIS previously revealed it still has a significant number of applications in its inventory for several fiscal years to come in categories already experiencing severe backlog, such as the EB-2 and EB-3 categories for Indian nationals.
