The US Visa bulletin for May, showing the availability of immigrant numbers for ‘Final Action Dates’ and ‘Dates for Filing Applications,’ has been released. The dates indicate when immigrant visa applicants should be notified to assemble and submit required documentation to the National Visa Center.

High demand and number use by India in the EB-5 unreserved visa categories, combined with increased Rest of World demand and number use, made it necessary to further retrogress the India final action date to hold number use within the maximum allowed under the FY-2025 annual limits.

It may also become necessary to establish a final action date for Rest of World countries if demand and number use continues to increase.

There is no change for EB-1 and EB-2 categories. For EB-1, India will remain at February 15, 2022, and China will remain at November 8, 2022. All other countries will continue to be current. For the EB-2, India will remain at January 1, 2013, and China will remain at October 1, 2020. All other countries will remain at June 22, 2023.

In the EB-3 category, India will advance by two weeks, to April 15, 2013, and China will remain at November 1, 2020. All other countries will remain at January 1, 2023.

For the EB-5 Unreserved categories, China will remain at January 22, 2014, and India will retrogress by six months, to May 1, 2019. All other countries will remain current. The EB-5 set-aside categories (Rural, High Unemployment, and Infrastructure) will also remain current.

USCIS will accept employment-based adjustment of status applications in May, requiring foreign nationals to have a priority date earlier than the specified date for their preference category and country to be eligible.

The Department of State provides a monthly Visa Bulletin that includes the cut-off dates for visa availability. As a result, the monthly Visa Bulletin determines which applicants are eligible to submit for adjustment of status and which are eligible for permanent residency. Applicants with a priority date before the cut-off date stated in the most recent Visa Bulletin are eligible to apply for permanent residency.

The fiscal year 2025 limit for family-sponsored preference immigrants determined in accordance with Section 201 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) is 226,000. The worldwide level for annual employment-based preference immigrants is at least 140,000. Section 202 prescribes that the per-country limit for preference immigrants is set at 7% of the total annual family-sponsored and employment-based preference limits, i.e., 25,620. The dependent area limit is set at 2%, or 7,320.

Usually, the cut-off dates on the Visa Bulletin move forward in time, but not always. Demand for visa numbers by applicants with a variety of priority dates can fluctuate from one month to another, with an inevitable impact on cut-off dates.

Such fluctuations can cause the cut-off date movement to slow, stop, or even retrogress. Visa retrogression occurs when more people apply for a visa in a particular category or country than there are visas available for that month.

Congress limits the number of immigration visas that can be given each year. To change status to legal permanent residence, the applicant must have an immigrant visa available both at the time of filing and at the time of adjudication.

Retrogression typically occurs toward the end of the fiscal year as visa issuance approaches the annual category, or per-country limitations. Sometimes, a priority date that meets the cut-off date one month will not meet the cut-off date the next month.

When the new fiscal year begins on October 1, a new supply of visas is made available and usually, but not always, returns the dates to where they were before retrogression.

A. FINAL ACTION DATES FOR FAMILY-SPONSORED PREFERENCE CASES

B. DATES FOR FILING FAMILY-SPONSORED VISA APPLICATIONS

A. FINAL ACTION DATES FOR EMPLOYMENT-BASED PREFERENCE CASES

B. DATES FOR FILING OF EMPLOYMENT-BASED VISA APPLICATIONS

For US Visa Bulletin for April, click here