Visa Bulletin: August 2022 - Some Thoughts
In the Final Action Chart - EB2 India is unchanged at Dec 1, 2014; EB3 India moved forward one month to Feb 15, 2012. This is NOT likely to result in many new EB I-485 filings.
This is a quick post about the August 2022 Visa Bulletin, which has been released by the U.S. Department of State. The August 2022 Visa Bulletin can be found here -
You can subscribe to receive emails directly from the U.S. Department of State each month if you want to get the monthly bulletins directly from the government.
For those who follow the Visa Bulletin regularly and understand the dynamics (generally) of the movement, this post will (hopefully) make sense. For those looking for a more comprehensive understanding of the Visa Bulletin, stay tuned to this space.
In brief -
Each month the U.S. Department of State publishes the Visa Bulletin. The Visa Bulletin basically explains the supply and demand of immigrant visas (green cards) based on categories which have annual limits (quotas).
Each month the Visa Bulletin shows two charts for EB (Employment-based) immigration. The important chart for August 2022 is the “Final Action Chart.”
For professional people (Bachelor’s degree or higher, whose job requires a Bachelor’s degree or higher) born in every country of the world except India and China, the EB cut-off dates and the Visa Bulletin mumbo-jumbo are not particularly important. Let’s hope that continues.
For people born in China, the Visa Bulletin cut-off dates are not great but actually not bad. EB2 China is at April 1, 2019, and EB3 China is at April 22, 2018. Of course, “not bad” is a relative concept.
The main professional people who face Visa Bulletin frustrations are those born in India.
For EB2 India, the July 2022 Visa Bulletin indicates that the cut-off date is December 1, 2014, and the cut-off date is UNCHANGED for the August 2022 Visa Bulletin.
For EB3 India, the July 2022 Visa Bulletin indicates that the cut-off date is January 15, 2012, and the date has MOVED FORWARD 1 month, to February 15, 2012, for the August 2022 Visa Bulletin. {There was a typo in this paragraph in the initial version of this article. I appreciate Isha Chhatwal for noticing and letting me know.}
The cut-off date listed on the Visa Bulletin ties to the Priority Date on the principal candidate’s I-140 petition approval.
In the Visa Bulletin’s second chart (currently the less important chart), the August 2022 Visa Bulletin shows EB2 India at January 1, 2015, and EB3 India at February 22, 2012. I believe the second chart is signaling where the cut-off dates will move for the September 2022 Visa Bulletin. So there is not likely to be much movement next month.
September 2022 is the last month of the U.S. government’s fiscal year 2022. So October 1, 2022, is the start of FY2023. An open question remains what will happen to cut-off dates in the new fiscal year.
In FY2021 (that started Oct 2020) and FY2022, there was relatively huge movement in cut-off dates. This ties into the pandemic and the slow/non-existent processing of FAMILY-BASED immigrant visas at U.S. consulates abroad. It is unclear whether FY2023 will also benefit from slow processing at U.S. consulates.
I apologize for the shorthand nature of this post. For those who follow the Visa Bulletin, this post will hopefully make sense.
For those who do not follow the Visa Bulletin regularly, a post like this is like trying to understand currency or bond trading - just a lot of words.
I am committed to additional postings in my newsletter in the coming days and weeks to better explain the Visa Bulletin to those less familiar.
Please consider subscribing to my newsletter for additional updates on U.S. immigration law, particularly issues related to EB (Employment-based) immigration.
PS - My new meme for the Visa Bulletin is a skeleton at a keyboard. It is ‘gallows humor’ about how long the wait times are for people born in India…
