/>iThe Department of State (DOS) August 2019 Visa Bulletin shows significant retrogression in employment-based (EB) categories.
In the EB-1 category, final action dates retrogress to July 1, 2016, for all countries of chargeability except for India. The cutoff date for India’s EB-1 category remains at Jan. 1, 2015. The EB-2 category retrogresses to July 1, 2016 for all countries except China, advancing to Jan. 1, 2017, and India, advancing to May 2, 2009.
EB-3 categories for all other countries, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, the Philippines, and Vietnam also retrogress to July 1, 2016. India retrogresses to Jan. 1, 2006, while China advances to July 1, 2016. Similarly, for the EB-3: Other Workers category, most countries retrogress to July 1, 2016; India retrogresses to Jan. 1, 2006, and China’s remains the same at Nov. 22, 2007.
The EB-4 category cutoff dates remain the same at July 1, 2016 for El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico, with the rest of the countries remaining current.
In the EB-5 category, most countries remain current. India and Vietnam’s cutoff dates retrogress to Oct. 15, 2014. China advances to the same cutoff date of Oct. 15, 2014.
The Visa Bulletin indicates that the implementation of the above-mentioned dates is expected to be temporary and that every effort will be made to return the Final Action dates to the same as those in the July Visa Bulletin in October 2019, the first month of fiscal year 2020.
Referring to the Final Action Dates, following are updates for the August 2019 Visa Bulletin:
Final Action Dates for Employment-Based Preference Cases
Dates for Filing of Employment-Based Visa Applications
