Articles Posted in Visa Bulletin

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Welcome back to Immigration Lawyer Blog! In this video, attorney Jacob Sapochnick discusses the current status of the immigrant visa backlog at the National Visa Center and Department of State, as of April 2022. In this video you will learn more about what you can expect over the next few months if you have a pending immigrant visa case waiting to be scheduled for an interview at a Consulate overseas.

Want to know more? Just keep on watching.

Overview

Every month when the National Visa Center releases its Immigrant Visa Backlog report, we take notice and breakdown exactly what the backlog report means for immigrant visa applicants.

In its latest release for the month of April 2022, the National Visa Center has provided information that highlights the dramatic backlogs caused by the Coronavirus pandemic, causing delays in the processing of immigrant visa applications.

Since the emergence of the Coronavirus, U.S. Embassies and Consulates worldwide have struggled to accommodate the growing demand for visa interviews with a very limited number of personnel and resources. Posts have also faced severe limitations including the inability to process a large number of cases due to local country conditions and lockdowns. The reality is that things have not gotten back to normal in many countries, and unfortunately this is causing applicants more headaches.

In an effort to be as transparent as possible, the National Visa Center has provided the total number of immigrant visa applicants still waiting for interview appointments.

These numbers are extremely concerning. Of 453,797 immigrant visa cases that were documentarily complete and ready to be scheduled for interviews as of March 31st, only 32,439 were actually scheduled for interviews in the month of April, leaving a backlog of 421,358 immigrant visa applicants still waiting for an interview.

Number of IV applicants whose cases are documentarily complete at NVC and ready for interview as of March 31 453,797
Number of documentarily complete IV applicants scheduled for April 2022 interview appointments 32,439
Number of eligible IV applicants still pending the scheduling of an interview after April 2022 appointment scheduling was completed 421,358

Sadly, this means that the State Department has not increased the volume of monthly interviews that can be scheduled at posts overseas, leaving the issue of the immigrant visa backlog unresolved.

Unfortunately, the future ahead does not look very promising. When looking at the March and April backlog reports, we see that the immigrant visa backlog decreased by only 3.5%.

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Welcome back to Immigration Lawyer Blog! In this video, attorney Jacob Sapochnick goes over the upcoming April 2022 Visa Bulletin and what you can expect in terms of movement or retrogression in the employment based and family sponsored preference categories.

The visa bulletin is issued every month by the Department of State. It shows which green card applications can move forward, based on when the immigrant petition that starts the green card process was originally filed. The visa bulletin allows you to estimate how long it will take before you will be able to get your green card, based on how quickly the “line” is moving now. You can check the visa bulletin on a monthly basis to determine your place in line.

Want to know more? Keep on watching for all the details.

Overview

What’s happening in the employment-based categories?

FINAL ACTION DATES FOR EMPLOYMENT-BASED PREFERENCE

According to the Department of State’s April 2022 Visa Bulletin, the following final cutoff dates will apply for the issuance of an immigrant visa for employment-based categories:

  • EB-1: All countries, including India and China, will remain current.
  • EB-2: India will advance by more than 2 months to July 8, 2013, and China will remain at March 1, 2019. All other countries will remain current.
  • EB-3 Professionals and Skilled Workers: EB-3 India and China will remain unchanged from the previous month, at January 15, 2012, and March 22, 2018, respectively. All other countries will remain current.
  • EB-4: All countries are current, except El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras at May 01, 2017, and Mexico at April 01, 2020.
  • EB-5: The Non-Regional Center program will be current for all countries, including China. The Regional Center program has been reauthorized by recent legislation but is still listed as Unavailable in the April Visa Bulletin Final Action Date chart, given that certain provisions of the reauthorizing legislation have not yet taken effect.
Employment-
based		 All Chargeability
Areas Except
Those Listed		 CHINA-
mainland
born		 EL SALVADOR
GUATEMALA
HONDURAS		 INDIA MEXICO PHILIPPINES
1st C C C C C C
2nd C 01MAR19 C 08JUL13 C C
3rd C 22MAR18 C 15JAN12 C C
Other Workers C 01JUN12 C 15JAN12 C C
4th C C 01MAY17 C 01APR20 C
Certain Religious Workers U U U U U U
5th Non-Regional Center
(C5 and T5)		 C C C C C C
5th Regional Center
(I5 and R5)		 U U U U U U

DATES FOR FILING FOR EMPLOYMENT-BASED PREFERENCE CATEGORIES

Employment-
based		 All Chargeability
Areas Except
Those Listed		 CHINA-
mainland
born		 EL SALVADOR
GUATEMALA
HONDURAS		 INDIA MEXICO  PHILIPPINES 
1st C C C C C C
2nd C 01APR19 C 01SEP14 C C
3rd C 01APR18 C 22JAN12 C C
Other Workers C 01AUG15 C 22JAN12 C C
4th C C 15JUN17 C C C
Certain Religious Workers C C 15JUN17 C C C
5th Non-Regional Center
(C5 and T5)		 C C C C C C
5th Regional Center
(I5 and R5)		 C 15DEC15 C C C C

Which filing chart do I use if I want to apply for adjustment of status based on employment within the USA?

All employment-based preference categories, except EB-5 petitions based on the Regional Center Program, may apply for adjustment of status using the Dates for Filing Chart in the Department of State Visa Bulletin for April 2022.

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Welcome back to Immigration Lawyer Blog! In this video, attorney Jacob Sapochnick goes over the upcoming March 2022 Visa Bulletin and what you can expect in terms of movement or retrogression in the employment based and family sponsored preference categories.

The visa bulletin is issued every month by the Department of State. It shows which green card applications can move forward, based on when the immigrant petition that starts the green card process was originally filed. The visa bulletin allows you to estimate how long it will take before you will be able to get your green card, based on how quickly the “line” is moving now. You can check the visa bulletin on a monthly basis to determine your place in line.

Overview

What’s happening in the employment-based categories?

FINAL ACTION DATES FOR EMPLOYMENT-BASED PREFERENCE

According to the Department of State’s March 2022 Visa Bulletin, the following final action cutoff dates will apply for the issuance of an immigrant visa for employment-based categories:

  • EB-1: All countries, including India and China, will remain current.
  • EB-2: India will advance by 4 months to May 1, 2013, and China will remain at March 1, 2019. All other countries will remain current.
  • EB-3 Professionals and Skilled Workers: EB-3 India and China will remain unchanged from the previous month, at January 15, 2012, and March 22, 2018, respectively. All other countries will remain current.
  • EB-5: The Non-Regional Center program will be current for all countries, including China. The Regional Center program has expired and is listed as unavailable in the March 2022 Visa Bulletin. If reauthorized, the Regional Center category will also be current for final action for all countries except China, which would be subject to a November 22, 2015 final action date.
Employment-
based		 All Chargeability
Areas Except
Those Listed		 CHINA-
mainland
born		 EL SALVADOR
GUATEMALA
HONDURAS		 INDIA MEXICO PHILIPPINES
1st C C C C C C
2nd C 01MAR19 C 01MAY13 C C
3rd C 22MAR18 C 15JAN12 C C
Other Workers C 01MAY12 C 15JAN12 C C
4th C C 01MAY17 C 01APR20 C
Certain Religious Workers U U U U U U
5th Non-Regional Center
(C5 and T5)		 C C C C C C
5th Regional Center
(I5 and R5)		 U U U U U U

Which filing chart do I use if I want to apply for adjustment of status based on employment within the USA?

All employment-based preference categories, except EB-5 petitions based on the Regional Center Program, may apply for adjustment of status using the Dates for Filing Chart in the Department of State Visa Bulletin for March 2022.

What can be expected moving forward from the employment-based categories?

In this month’s visa bulletin, the most important highlight is that EB-3 China Other Workers advanced by one-month to July 1, 2015, and EB-4 El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras retrogressed by almost 2 years.

Additionally, DOS estimates that it may soon be necessary to establish EB-5 Non-Regional Center Final Action and Dates for Filing cutoff dates for China. DOS predicts this may occur as early as April 2022, which would make the category no longer current for China-mainland born nationals.

DOS also predicts that EB-2 India might soon retrogress in the coming weeks.

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Welcome back to the Immigration Lawyer Blog, where we discuss all things immigration. In this video, attorney Jacob Sapochnick discusses the February 2022 Visa Bulletin and what you can expect in terms of movement or retrogression in the employment based and family sponsored preference categories.

Want to know more? Just keep on watching.

Overview

What’s happening in the employment-based categories?

According to the Department of State’s February 2022 Visa Bulletin, the following final action cutoff dates will apply for the issuance of an immigrant visa for employment-based categories:

  • EB-1: All countries, including India and China, will remain current.
  • EB-2: India advanced by nearly 6 months to January 1, 2013, and China advanced by more than 5 weeks to March 1, 2019. All other countries will remain current.
  • EB-3 Professionals and Skilled Workers: EB-3 India and China will remain the same as the previous months at January 15, 2012 and March 22, 2018 respectively. All other countries will remain current.
  • EB-4 Certain Religious Workers: All countries, except El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico, will remain current. El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras remains at March 15, 2019, and Mexico remains at April 1, 2020
  • EB-5: The Non-Regional Center program will be current for all countries, including China. The Regional Center program has expired and is listed as unavailable in the February 2022 Visa Bulletin. If reauthorized, the Regional Center program will mirror the Non-Regional Center final action dates, except China, which would be subject to a November 22, 2015, final action date.

Which filing chart do I use if I want to apply for adjustment of status based on employment within the USA?

All employment-based preference categories, except EB-5 petitions based on the Regional Center Program, may apply for adjustment of status using the Dates for Filing chart in the Department of State Visa Bulletin for February 2022.

What’s happening in the family-sponsored categories?

According to the Department of State’s February 2022 Visa Bulletin, the following final cutoff dates will apply for the issuance of an immigrant visa for family-sponsored categories:

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Welcome back to the Immigration Lawyer Blog, where we discuss all things immigration. In this video, attorney Jacob Sapochnick discusses a major new development in immigration law: H.R. 5376, the Build Back Better Act was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives on November 19, 2021 and will now move to the U.S. Senate for consideration.

In this blog post, we break down all the major immigration provisions of the Build Back Better Act, including the introduction of new fees that will apply to certain categories of immigrants to request a waiver of the numerical limitations under the law.

Want to know more? Just keep on watching.

Overview

What are the major immigration provisions of the Build Back Better Act?

If passed section 60001 of the House bill would amend certain provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act and open a path to permanent residency for four classes of immigrants allowing them to adjust their status to permanent residence (a green card). To be eligible, applicants would be required to pay a supplemental fee of $1,500, have no criminal background, and have no inadmissibility issues.

Under the bill, the following individuals would be eligible to apply for permanent residency:

  1. Dreamers: young undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as children before 2007, who have continuously resided in the United States, gone to school, and who otherwise have no criminal record
  2. Essential Workers: The Act would also extend an opportunity to individuals in our workforce who have played an essential role in our society, especially throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, such as health care workers, energy and transportation workers, public works employees, and manufacturing workers, among others.
  3. Temporary Protected Status recipients: recipients of Temporary Protected Status would also be eligible to apply for permanent residency. Temporary Protected Status is a temporary designation given to eligible nationals of designated countries affected by armed conflict or natural disaster. The TPS designation allows recipients to live and work in the United States on a lawful temporary basis
  4. Deferred Enforcement Departure applicants: those who have received a grant of Deferred Enforced Departure would also be eligible to apply for permanent residency. Deferred Enforced Departure (DED) (formerly Extended Voluntary Departure) is a form of relief from removal that allows certain individuals from designated countries and regions facing political or civic conflict or natural disaster to live and work in the United States on a lawful basis.

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Welcome back to the Immigration Lawyer Blog, where we discuss all things immigration. We hope you spent a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday with your loved ones. We are grateful for all our viewers and the support you give us on this platform. We thank you for your trust and support.

In this video, attorney Jacob Sapochnick answers one of your frequently asked questions: I have a green card, why should I become a U.S. Citizen? In this blog post, you will find out what your rights are as a permanent resident versus a U.S. Citizen, and some of the key advantages you have as a U.S. Citizen.

Keep on watching to find out more.

Overview

What is the difference between having a green card and U.S. Citizenship?

First, let’s discuss the basics. When a person wants to immigrate to the United States permanently, the first step is to apply for a green card (also known as permanent residence). There are various different ways a person can qualify for a green card. The most common avenues to obtain a green card are family sponsorship through a qualifying relative (U.S. Citizen or LPR spouse, child, parent, or sibling) or employment-based sponsorship, where an individual will first obtain a work visa based on a job offer and then become eligible to apply for permanent residence through their employer. There are also other special categories of immigrants such as asylum seekers, Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) victims of domestic violence, diversity visa lottery winners, and many others who also qualify for a green card. There also green card avenues for individuals of exceptional ability (EB-1), those whose employment is in the national interest (EB-2), and EB-5 immigrant investors who invest at least half a million dollars in a new business enterprise or Regional Center project. While there are many ways to obtain a green card, the ultimate goal is to obtain permanent residency.

Once a person has obtained a green card, typically that person must wait a number of years before being eligible to apply for U.S. Citizenship. For instance, those who obtained their green card based on marriage to a U.S. Citizen and continue to remain married, must wait 3 years from the date they became a permanent residence to apply for citizenship. All others must wait 5 years from the date they became a permanent resident to become eligible to apply for U.S. Citizenship.

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Welcome back to the Immigration Lawyer Blog, where we discuss all things immigration. In this video, attorney Jacob Sapochnick tells you everything you need to know about the new Congressional reconciliation bill known as H.R. 5376 “the Build Back Better Act.” How might this piece of legislation impact you in your immigration journey? Want to know what you can expect in terms of potential upcoming changes in the law?

Keep on watching to find out more!

Overview

The Biden administration has released a new bill, the Build Back Better Act, that includes a new immigration framework that if passed would positively benefit employment-based green card applicants. The bill also sets aside $100 billion dollars for immigration purposes to reduce the immigrant visa backlogs and to recapture unused immigrant visas.

New Framework for Immigration Reform

Over the past few months, Congressional Democrats have been working on passing comprehensive immigration reform to modernize the current immigration system and open a pathway to citizenship for young undocumented immigrants known as “Dreamers,” and other groups of individuals including highly skilled immigrants. The Democrats have presented several immigration reform proposals to the Senate Parliamentarian to increase the chances of passing immigration reform without having to receive majority support from the Republican party. Passing reform through a reconciliation bill has been the most effective means of bringing about much needed changes because of opposition for reform in our current immigration climate.

The proposals in this new bill are interestingly much different from other proposals we have seen so far from Democrats. If passed, the bill would prioritize recapturing immigrant visas in family and employment-based categories for immigrant visa numbers that went unused between Fiscal year 1992 and fiscal year 2021. Such a provision would have the potential of adding more than 220,000 employment-based green cards to the current pool of immigrant visas currently available according to researchers. This would be a groundbreaking new policy because it would have the potential to drastically reduce the current visa backlogs, in both the family and employment-based categories. In some family-based categories, applicants must wait over 20 years for their priority date to become current and a visa to become available. Recapturing new visa numbers and putting them back into the system will be very advantageous for those waiting for a visa.

While the final outcome of this proposal is still uncertain, it is a good preview of what is to come and of its potential for approval in the House and the Senate.

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Welcome back to the Immigration Lawyer Blog, where we discuss all things immigration. In this video, attorney Jacob Sapochnick discusses the November Visa Bulletin and what you can expect in terms of movement or retrogression in the employment based and family sponsored preference categories.

Want to know more? Just keep on watching.

Overview

What’s happening in the family-sponsored categories?

Due to the ongoing pandemic and unprecedented backlogs at U.S. Embassies and Consulates worldwide, with the exception of the F2A category which remains current, there has been no movement in the worldwide family-sponsored preference categories. Charles Oppenheim, the Chief of the Immigrant Visa Control and Reporting Division of the U.S. Department of State, has said that he does not expect any movement whatsoever in the family sponsored worldwide dates before January and possibly even longer.

Consular posts and Embassies are doing their best to normalize operating capacity, however the majority of posts continue to work on a limited basis according to a four-tier prioritization schedule. Delays in visa processing continue to be expected for the foreseeable future based on the extraordinary demand for interview appointments and the lack of resources at Consular posts overseas to accommodate interviews for all applicants.

With respect to the F2A category, spouses and children of permanent residents lawfully residing in the United States can proceed with filing their adjustment of status applications with USCIS given that the F2A category remains current.

What’s happening in the employment-based categories?

According to the Department of State’s November 2021 Visa Bulletin, the following final cutoff dates will apply for the issuance of an immigrant visa for employment-based categories:

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Welcome back to the Immigration Lawyer Blog, where we discuss all things immigration. In this video, attorney Jacob Sapochnick shares a new update from the Department of State that was recently provided to the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) Liaison Committee regarding the movement of family sponsored categories on the Visa Bulletin. This information was not previously shared on the “Chats with Charlie,” monthly broadcast with Charlie Oppenheim, the Chief of the Immigrant Visa Control and Reporting Division at the Department of State. Additionally, we share new updates regarding employment-based sponsorship, the current retrogressions in the EB-3 category, as well as Diversity Visa lottery updates following recent developments in the judicial system.

Want to know more? Just keep on watching!

Overview

What’s the latest news with respect to immigrant visa numbers?

U.S. immigration laws limit the number of immigrants that can be admitted to the United States each year. The annual numerical immigrant visa limits are based on complex formulas and are subdivided among several preference categories and country “caps.” To illustrate, the annual limit for family-sponsored petitions is 480,000, which includes visas for immediate relatives, while 140,000 visas are allocated for employment-based immigrants. Unused family preference visas from the preceding years are added to employment-based visa numbers to maximize number use.

We have learned that employment-based visa numbers for fiscal year 2022 are expected to be 290,000 – an all-time high. As of today, the pending demand experienced by both the State Department and USCIS in the employment third preference category, for applicants born in India and China, will already exceed the amount of numbers that are available to applicants from those countries throughout fiscal year 2022 in the third preference category. In comparison, in fiscal year 2021, only 9,000 employment-based visas in the third preference category went unused. In fiscal year 2022, there may be close to 85,000 unused employment-based immigrant visas.

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Welcome back to the Immigration Lawyer Blog, where we discuss all things immigration. In this video, attorney Jacob Sapochnick shares the most up to date information about the current status of U.S. visa services at Consulates and Embassies worldwide. In this post we cover U.S. Embassies and Consular posts that we have not yet touched on and provide an analysis of their operating capacity during the worldwide COVID-19 health crisis. Want to know which Embassies and Consulates are scheduling visa interviews?

Keep on watching to find out more.

Overview

As a preliminary matter, it is important to consider that the majority of U.S. Embassies and Consulates overseas continue to have very limited operational capacity due to constraints relating to the COVID-19 pandemic. Some posts have temporarily suspended all routine visa services and have not provided an estimated time frame as to when they will resume at least partial visa services and appointments. The bulk of Consular posts have entered a phased resumption of visa services and are providing visa services as their resources and local country conditions will allow. The health and safety of employees and the public remains a top concern. Emergency and mission critical visa services continue to be prioritized for those facing life and death emergencies, age-out cases where the applicant will no longer qualify due to their age, immediate relative intercountry adoption, and other special cases. Furthermore, expedite requests and National Interest exceptions continue to be considered by Consular posts and Embassies including for health care professionals working to alleviate the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

How are Consular posts and Embassies prioritizing appointments?

The Department of State announced that Consular missions and Embassies are following a four-tier system of prioritization to triage documentarily qualified immigrant visa applications based on the category of immigrant visa as they resume and expand processing. Consular sections are scheduling some appointments within all four priority tiers every month where possible, however the following are the main categories of immigrant visas in priority order:

  • Tier One: Immediate relative intercountry adoption visas, age-out cases (cases where the applicant will soon no longer qualify due to their age), certain Special Immigrant Visas (SQ and SI for Afghan and Iraqi nationals working with the U.S. government), and emergency cases as determined on a case-by-case basis.
  • Tier Two:  Immediate relative visas; fiancé(e) visas; and returning resident visas
  • Tier Three: Family preference immigrant visas and SE Special Immigrant Visas for certain employees of the U.S. government abroad
  • Tier Four: All other immigrant visas, including employment preference and diversity visas*

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