On Thursday, November 17th, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) confirmed that it will honor the State Department’s Date for Filing chart from the State Department’s December 2022 Visa Bulletin. The December 2022 Visa Bulletin was released late in the monthly cycle which may be a sign that USCIS and State Department were wrestling with challenges internally before issuing this month’s Visa Bulletin.
Most notably, the December Visa Bulletin introduces a final action priority date of November 1, 2022 for EB-2 “All Other Countries.” This restriction, also in place for dates for filing, for the EB-2 classification for “All Other Countries” this early in the government’s fiscal year may linger and may further challenge green card timelines for applicants previously planning to concurrently submit their I-140 Immigrant Petitions with their I-485 Adjustment of Status Applications. Lastly, the further retrogression for India EB-2 final action date (now October 8, 2011) will result in continued lengthy adjudication timelines for this category.
Dates for Filing: Notes
- EB-1: All countries will remain current.
- EB-2: China EB-2 will remain at July 8, 2019.
- India EB-2 will remain at May 1, 2012.
- El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, the Philippines and all other countries for EB-2 will change from current to Dec. 1, 2022.
- EB-3: China EB-3 will advance over a month to Sept. 1, 2018.
- India EB-3 will advance one month to Aug. 1, 2012.
- All other countries under EB-3 will remain current.
- EB-5: Unreserved India and China remain backlogged.
Family Based Information: USCIS to honor Dates for Filing chart for family-based applicants in December 2022. Please refer to the State Department’s full Visa Bulletin for further details available here.
