The Visa Bulletin

admin Visa Bulletin, visa bulletin

The Visa Bulletin for April 2009 was posted by the State Department earlier today. Screenshots posted below.

Family Preference Categories

Employment Preference Categories

D. EXPIRATION OF TWO EMPLOYMENT VISA CATEGORIES

Employment Fourth Preference Certain Religious Workers:

Pursuant to Section 2(a) of the Special Immigrant Nonminister Religious Worker Program Act (Pub. L. 110-391), the nonminister special immigrant program expires on March 6, 2009.

Employment Fifth Preference Pilot Program Categories (I5, R5):

Pursuant to Section 144 of the Consolidated Security, Disaster Assistance, and Continuing Appropriations Act, 2009 (Public Law 110-329), the immigrant investor pilot program expires on March 6, 2009.

The cut-off dates for the above categories are shown as “Unavailable” for April.  Congress is considering an extension for each of these categories, but there is no certainty when such legislative action may occur.  If legislation to extend either of these categories is enacted, the cut-off date for that category would immediately become “Current.”

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Please feel free to post your comments concerning the April 2009 Visa Bulletin below:

admin Visa Bulletin, visa bulletin

The Visa Bulletin for February 2009 was posted by the State Department earlier today. Screenshots posted below.

February 2009 // Family-Based Visa Bulletin

>

February 2009 // Employment-Based Visa Bulletin

There weren’t any notes specific to the employment or family categories in the February 2009 Visa Bulletin.

johnc visa bulletin

The Visa Bulletin for January 2009 was posted by the State Department earlier today. Screenshots posted below.

January 2009 // Family-Based Visa Bulletin

January 2009 // Employment-Based Visa Bulletin

There weren’t any notes specific to the employment or family categories in the January 2009 Visa Bulletin.

johnc visa bulletin

UPDATE: November 7th — The Visa Bulletin for December 2008 was posted by the State Department earlier today. Screenshots posted below.

December 2008 // Family-Based Visa Bulletin

December 2008 // Employment-Based Visa Bulletin

There weren’t any notes specific to the employment or family categories in the December Visa Bulletin.

johnc Memos, visa bulletin visa bulletin

UPDATE: October 14th — The Visa Bulletin for November 2008 was posted by the State Department earlier today.

November 2008 // Family-Based Visa Bulletin

November 2008 // Employment-Based Visa Bulletin

The notes for the November 2008 Visa Bulletin said the following:

D. EMPLOYMENT VISA AVAILABILITY

The level of demand being received from Citizenship and Immigration Services (CIS) Offices indicates that they have a significant amount of cases with priority dates that are earlier than the established cut-offs. This is likely to result in slow forward movement of the cut-off dates for most Employment categories during the next few months. Sudden changes in the CIS demand patterns could result in fluctuations in the monthly cut-off dates, and retrogressions cannot be ruled during FY-2009.

You can also signup for email notification – we’ll send you an email every month as soon as the visa bulletin is released.

johnc visa bulletin November 2008

The official Visa Bulletin for October 2008 has been posted by the State Department.

Screenshots are posted below.

October 2008 // Family-Based Visa Bulletin

October 2008 // Employment-Based Visa Bulletin

Source: travel.state.gov

And the notes of the October Visa Bulletin include the following:

D.  MEXICO F2A VISA AVAILABIILTY FOR OCTOBER

Heavy demand for numbers in the Mexico F2A category has required the establishment of a cut-off date which is earlier than that which applied in June (after which they became “unavailable” for the remainder of FY-2008).  The Mexico F2A cut-off date for October will be 01MAY01. Forward movement during the first quarter of the new fiscal year is likely to be limited.

E. EMPLOYMENT VISA AVAILABILITY

Item E of the May 2008 Visa Bulletin (number 118, volume VIII) indicated that many Employment cut-off dates had been advancing very rapidly, based on indications that the Citizenship and Immigration Services (CIS) would need to review a significantly larger pool of applicants than there were numbers available in order to maximize number use under the FY-2008 annual limits.  That item also indicated that if the CIS projections proved to be incorrect, it would be necessary to adjust the cut-off dates during the final quarter of FY-2008.   The CIS estimates have proven to be very high resulting in:  1) the “unavailability” of all Employment Third preference categories beginning in July, 2) the “unavailability” of numbers for China and India Employment Second preference adjustment of status cases during September, and 3) the establishment of many October Employment cut-off dates which are earlier than those which applied during FY-2008.

Little if any forward movement of the cut-off dates in most Employment categories is likely until the extent of the CIS backlog of old priority dates can be determined.  It is estimated that the FY-2009 Employment-based annual limit will be very close to the 140,000 minimum.

johnc visa bulletin mumbai consulate, October 2008, visa bulletin

The Visa Bulletin for September 2008 was released earlier today – screenshots are posted below.

Also, the September Visa Bulletin noted the following:

VISA AVAILABILITY FOR OCTOBER

The Mexico F2A and Employment Third preference cut-off dates are “unavailable” for both August and September, since those FY-2008 annual limits have been reached. The Visa Office had originally anticipated that this would be a temporary situation. Then with the start of the new fiscal year in October the cut-off dates would have returned to those which had applied during June. However, continued heavy demand in those categories may require the establishment of cut-off dates which are earlier than those which had applied in June. A formal decision determination of the October cut-off dates will not be possible until early September. (emphasis added by me)

September 2008 // Family-Based Visa Bulletin

September 2008 // Employment-Based Visa Bulletin

Source: travel.state.gov

Post your comments and questions about the September Visa Bulletin below.

johnc visa bulletin Visa Bulletin September 2008

The Visa Bulletin for August 2008 was released earlier today – screenshots are posted below.

August 2008 // Family-Based Visa Bulletin:

August 2008 // Employment-Based Visa Bulletin:

Source: travel.state.gov

Post your comments and questions about the August 2008 Visa Bulletin below.

johnc visa bulletin visa bulletin

[Update: Tuesday, June 10th -- The July 2008 Visa Bulletin was posted today by the State Department. Screenshots are below. I'll post some comments, so check back soon.]

July 2008 // Employment-Based Visa Bulletin:

July 2008 // Family-Based Visa Bulletin:

Source: state.gov

If you have any comments about the July Visa Bulletin, feel free to drop them below.

johnc visa bulletin July Visa Bulletin