January Visa Bulletin Report

Employment-Based Adjustments

USCIS will accept employment-based adjustment applications in December from foreign nationals with a priority date that is earlier than the Final Action Dates (Chart A) listed in the State Department’s January Visa Bulletin.  Therefore those seeking to file under the Dates for Filing (Chart B), have only until December 31, 2020 to have their case receipted. USCIS lockbox operations are still backlogged and USCIS has not yet data entered some cases from October 2020 filings yet. We continue to monitor these filings but if you receive return packages or instructions from us, please act promptly as there is very little time left to refile this year.

Family-Based Adjustments

USCIS has announced that F2A applicants may file adjustments using the Final Action Dates chart. Applicants in all other family-sponsored preference categories must use the Dates for Filing chart.

Employment Based Final Action Dates (Chart A)

Insights on Final Action Dates (Chart A)

• EB-1 China and EB-1 India will advance by five months to September 1, 2019.
• EB-2 China and EB-2 India will advance modestly by one month and one week respectively.
• EB-3 China and EB-3 India will advance modestly by six weeks and one week respectively.

EB-5 Regional Center Note: The Visa Bulletin lists visas unavailable for EB-5 Regional Center cases, as the Regional Center program needs to be reauthorized and extended again.   When the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 is signed into law, the Regional Center program will be extended to June 30, 2021.  If there is legislative action extending this category for January, the final action date would immediately become “Current” for January for all countries except China-mainland born, which would be subject to an August 15, 2015 final action date, and for Vietnam, which would be subject to a September 15, 2017 final action date.

To file your Adjustment of Status, contact your WR attorney today.