The Visa Bulletin

Thanks John for opening this one up.
While waiting on John’s comments and predictions on the EB3 ROW in May VB, does anyone else have any relevant information on the topic from some official article or other reliable source of information. Thanks all!

i live in south korea .i applied other workers
i was waiting for three years. my PD is september, 2003, how long will i wait from now,and what do you think of other workers progress within this year.thank for your response.

hi john, when do u think the may VB will come up? I hope there will be movement again for EB3…

India
EB-1 – C
EB-2 – Dec 2003
EB-3 – Jan 2002

Just a prediction… let’s see

what’s the next visa bulletin? will it include pd 2006? my pd is nov 2006 and i wish there will be some movements on E3 category

John has been too busy lately. For once, we might actually get the VB before John gets to comment

No offense John, I really appreciate the time you put in to this post.

I don’t predict any movement for the EB3 category in the May visa bulletin. The numbers jumped forward in the March and April bulletins, and we’ve been told by State Department officials (in visa bulletin notes) and AILA that the movement was an effort to preempt unused numbers at the end of the fiscal year. So my prediction is modest, if any, movement in the EB3 category.

@Paul Kim: I’m not familiar with the “Other Worker” category. The numbers are so limited I wouldn’t expect much movement.

Hello John,

Glad to be back for the predictions and thanks again for having this. Below is my prediction for category effecting my case.

Rest of the World:

EB3 Dec 2005/Jan 2006

P.S. If it was in my hand, I would have made it Current

John, your comment makes more sense, I was going by what happened last year and hoping that the movement will continue (but not that dramatic)

John,
Your predicting no major change / movement in EB category so May VB is expected to be out early? Did I get this right?

Hi John,

Your earlier comment suggests that the visa numbers have already been reached for this FY if the “preemptive” move has been already satisfied by the two bulletin movements in March and April. Is there a source of info where one can see how many visa numbers have been used so far for each category and what is still available for consumption in the future?

Thanks!

hi john
Whats your prediction for FB1 category.
thanks

ROW PHILS EB3 JAN/FEB 06
I think the rest would move another 6 months

Just Guessing Peace!

Here’s an article from ilw.com: external link to article.

[Editorial Note: Jen was kind enough to post the full article in her comment, but I replaced it with a single link to the full article. -John]

Dear Sir.
What Your Prediction For F/3 Category.
my P/D OCT-2000.

John,

What’s your prediction for EB2….(India)…

John,

Please, ¡Speak up!
Thanks

its disheartening to hear that May visa bulletin for EB3 wont move, but im still hoping for the best..

John,
Any forward movement for EB3 philippines this May & June?

John, can you please tell me why most visa forums focus on EB visas? Seldom if ever do I see discussions and questions regarding family based visas. Furthermore, I never see any predictions regarding the movement of visas in the FB catagories.

The EB3 for India is going to Dec’03 in May ‘08
Bulletin (Insider info)

AG,
I laud your optimism! Would it be alright if I asked you about the source?
Whether or not this comes true in 96 hours, thank you for suffusing the thread with some much needed optimism (especially since the moderator is MIA … ) Good luck and prayers, everyone!

India and China EB2 could become unavailable for the rest of this fiscal year. This is my prediction based on what Charles Oppenheim says in the meeting.

my prediction for VB this may for EB3 for philippines would be july 2007..a 2 year leap..hehehe..i will rather be optimistic about the movement…

John, do you know what was the total number of I130 filed for family based categories? Is this information publicly available? Do you know what the trend has been in I130 filings for 2000-2003??

VB for May posted

EB3 moved to March 06 for rest of the world

mumbai.usconsulate.gov/cut_off_dates.html

Good stuff, Christine. I’m going to post your link in the main post above temporarily until the main visa bulletin is released.

The main visa bulletin has been just released:
http://travel.state.gov/visa/frvi/bulletin/bulletin_4205.html

I am not sure why the link I posted has disappeared. All it was was a link to a bulletin board thread to discuss family based immigration issues. Like GARY B noted, information about family based immigration is very limited and the coverage is not nearly as extensive as for employment based immigration. I thought Internet was all about open sharing of information and here I find out that it is censored. If family based immigration is not to be addressed on this website please specify that this is employment-specific discussion and that no links to external boards should be posted here.
Thanks!

It’s time to start June 2008 predictions discussion

VI, they usually remove liks that can divert ppl from their visabulletin.com to some other web site.
Last month I posted the same link to mumbai consulate and that was removed and this month John is thanking some one for posting the same link.

Thanks for the heads up, KY! I just posted the May Bulletin above.

@VI: The link you posted “disappeared” because I did not think it was a quality link so I removed it. The internet is all about sharing information but this is my website and I reserve the right to censor anything in order to promote only *quality* content. I will let just about anything through, but I will scrutinize any outbound link from this website because outbound links reflect upon the quality of *this* site. I don’t think that is unreasonable.

Chachu, see my response to VI directly above. I remove links that I don’t think will be useful to visitors. But as you might have seen recently, I will actually add links to other sites that I think will be useful. See my response to Jen above.

I removed your link last month because the official visa bulletin had already been posted (making your link useless). Please don’t take it personally if I remove or edit your link. I am not doing it for my own personal gain. I am doing it because I think my edits will help put the most relevant content at your fingertips.

Thanks for your patience everyone. I didn’t respond directly to a lot of comments asking for predictions because I knew the May Visa Bulletin would be posted soon and my predictions would be useless.

@MMS: Turns out I was wrong about the EB3 ROW prediction. Your prediction was a lot closer. This is another example of the State Department saying one thing, but doing another.

@Lostboy: There was some movement in the EB3 category (depending on where you’re from). See the main post above for the dates.

@CADude: I don’t know of any source for the actual numbers. Sometime the State Department puts out numbers and AILA picks it up. If I see any numbers, I’ll post them.

@Wuwu: The cutoff dates moved more than you predicted (and a lot farther than I predicted). See dates above.

@Che-Che: I’m happy to say I was wrong and the EB3 dates moved. I hope the movement helped you.

@Gary B: I think that family based visas are overlooked on a lot of visa forums because the forums are usually setup by immigration lawyers and most of those immigration lawyers target employment-based cases. I am guilty of this as well. That said, I appreciate your comment and I’ll do my best to address family-based issues whenever possible.

@AG: Turns out your inside information wasn’t accurate.

@ONM: Very good question, always ask the source of anyone who claims to have inside information (no offense AG).

@Spitzer: EB2 actually moved another month for India/China in the May Visa Bulletin!

@VI: I don’t know the total numbers for I-130 filings. If I come across anything, though, I’ll post it.

Hi John,

Are you going to answer the questions on the April Visa bulletin discussions thread?? We’ve all been waiting for your answers its been over 3 weeks now!

Thanks!!

Yes, Moi. Thanks for your patience! I’m actually working on those responses right now.

John & Everyone, in an attempt to predict when my stepdaughter’s priority date will be current I created a spreadsheet based on 2007 to 2008 showing the days the PD advanced each month for FB-1 in Europe. The days advanced were as follows; 2007 Feb 9, Mar 0, Apr 7, May 7, Jun 16, July 30, Aug 38, Sept 53, Oct 37, Nov 30, Dec 31, 2008 Jan 24, Feb 7, Mar 7, Apr 7, May 15. OBVIOUSLY, the priority dates in 2007 advanced rapidly from June to Jan. I don’t know if the pattern will hold true, but it should give hope to those who only see one day or one week advances. Check your own classification and area to compare.

God Bless!!… Hurray!!! EB3 Phils at Mar06 cut off. My PD is July 06, 4 mos more and all July PD will be current!
Let us not stop praying ang asking God’s help for this to happen. Everything is possible, please… no more negative predictions, let’s all hope for the best for everyone’s lives depends on the PD cut off.

thank God!! the bulletin move for philippines!!!!

Hi Che-che., what’s ur priority date? are you fromt eh Philippines? Do you think the June Bulletin will further move the cut off dats?
Hi John.. ur predictions please…

hi ms.carmen, yup i am from phil..well..my papers are still on nebraska service center. my receipt notice is on may 9, 2007. so i pressume my pd will be mostly around may 2007 also. am i right? so everytime the VB move, im so happy until it will reach around 2007. im praying so hard that this june, will leap for another year!!..

I’m so happy that there’s movement in the EB3 for the Philippines despite all the predictions that there wouldn’t be. But I’m so afraid that the movement will stop short of my PD (June 2007, but it’s already approved and with the NVC). Does anyone think my PD has a chance of becoming current this year?

Che-che, has your petition been approved yet?

I’m so happy that the May VB moved by 8 months. Do you think before end of the year it will be current( open for 2008 application)? What will be your prediction? or guess? Thanks!

I think we are going to see about the same situation as last July. As it was curent for all in july so there must not be many left how didn’t file for I-485 with PD earlier than april or may 2007. So USCIS should not be reciving a whole lot of application untill the PD will become some where around June 2007. I strongly belive that the PD will aleast go until end of Dec 2007 for FY 2008.

my pd is sep 2003 as greencard holder spouse when will my visa comes ?

my pd is sep 2003 as greencard holder spouse when will my visa comes ?

hello john, I am an RN & my PD is august24,2005 eb3 Philippines. Why is it that until now my friends and I with the same PD have not been interviewed or even scheduled to be interviewed yet? the may visa bulletin shows that there is availability of visa until march 1,2006. i had emailed NVC & they replied that i am eligible for futher processing & that they will send instructions to my petitioner or the lawyer of record but until now there is no news yet in our case. thanx so much john, God bless you more & more…

hi jen..nope i havent been approved yet. as i checked on the nebraska service center, they are still processing february 28, 2007. mine is may 9, 2007 stated on the receipt notice. have u been approved already? I guess nebraska is quite slow on processing the papers on their center. I wish they could move their processing time frames faster just like texas service center.

Dear John,
Feb 2002 by Oct 2008 for EB 3 I?!!
I guess I learned my lesson, sometimes it’s best to not know…
I need to wake up every morning for the next 2 years and say this in my head – “patience pays”.

Hi jonh,
My PD is oct 10 of 2007 in EB3 cathegory. I would like to change employer, is that possible?or will i have to file for another I-140?