Clarification of Possible Retrogressions in EB Visa Numbers
Posted Jan 19, 2000

The Weekly Immigration Law Bulletin of The Law Office of Sheela Murthy, P.C. of January 10, 2000, mentioned the U.S. Department of State (DOS)'s opinion as to the likelihood of retrogression in Employment Based (EB) Visa numbers. Their opinion was that although numbers for nationals of India and China will be current for the month of February 2000, there is a likelihood of retrogression in March 2000.

Although there has been considerable concern over the expected retrogression, please note that the DOS official pointed out that both the second and third preference categories for Indian nationals will likely retrogress in March 2000 only as far back as July 1999. For those of you who have been contacting our Office with some concern, please note that this means that in DOS's opinion, those with a Priority Date before July 1999 will not have a problem, in all likelihood, at least for the month of March 2000.

As a practical matter, this retrogression should not affect most applicants for the green card for the months of February and March 2000. Most of the INS Service Centers are taking about 8 and up to 10 months to approve the I-140 Immigrant Petitions. So a person who has already obtained a labor certification approval and then filed the I-140 Petition, is likely to have a priority date earlier than July 1999. Hence such an applicant should not have a problem in filing the I-485 (Adjustment of Status) application as long as the applicant's priority date is prior to the cut-off date mentioned on the DOS's Visa Bulletin.