The Visa Bulletin, which is released monthly by the U.S. Department of State, is used to determine the date on which an individual may submit the final step of the immigrant visa or adjustment of status process or, if already pending, when the final step may be adjudicated and an immigrant visa may be issued or legal residency  granted. The bulletin summarizes immigrant visa number availability for that particular month for employment and family preference categories, along with diversity visas. 

The USCIS has announced it will require the use of the Dates for Filing chart for all employment-based preference categories. Such dates remain unchanged from the October visa bulletin.

A summary of the employment-based portion of the November 2023 Visa Bulletin, including Final Action Dates, is below:

• EB-1: The Final Action Date for India will remain at Jan. 1, 2017, with China remaining at Feb. 15, 2022. All other countries are current.
• EB-2: The Final Action Date for India will remain at Jan. 1, 2012. For China, the Final Action Date will remain set at Oct. 1, 2019. All other countries will advance by one week to July 15, 2022.
• EB-3: The EB-3 Final Action Date for India will remain at May 1, 2012, with China set at Jan. 1, 2020. All other countries will remain at Dec. 1, 2021.

The information in the bulletin allows applicants to determine their place in line by looking at the priority date on their underlying immigrant petition or other similar document. Those with a priority date that is “current” on the Visa Bulletin are permitted to move forward with the immigration process as this means an immigrant visa is now available to them.

This article was co-authored by Tieranny Cutler.