May 2007 : EB3 Movement Not for India, China, or Mexico
Posted Apr 20, 2007
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The U.S. Department of State (DOS) has released the Visa Bulletin for May 2007. After three months of complete stagnation among visa numbers in the employment categories, the employment-based, third preference category (EB3) moved forward significantly for the worldwide chargeability and for the Philippines. There was no movement, unfortunately, for cases charged to India, China, or Mexico. The categories that previously were current remain current. The cutoff dates for the employment-based, second preference category (EB2) for China and India also remain unchanged. The predictions for the future, however, contain a tiny glimmer of hope for stagnant categories. [The most recent Visa Bulletin chart is always available on MurthyDotCom.]
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Employment-Based First Preference (EB1)
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The EB1 category is current for all countries of chargeability.
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Employment-Based Second Preference (EB2)

The EB2 category remains current for all countries of chargeability, except for China and India. There has been no change in the cutoff dates. China's cutoff date is April 22, 2005, while India's cutoff date is January 8, 2003.
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Employment-Based Third Preference (EB3)
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In EB3, all countries of chargeability have cutoff dates. For the first time in three months, there was forward movement for nationals of many countries in the EB3 category. The movement was significant. For the worldwide chargeability, as well as the Philippines, the cutoff date moved forward by a full year. The new cutoff date for both worldwide and the Philippines is August 1, 2003. This worldwide cutoff date applies to all countries of chargeability except China, India, Mexico, and the Philippines.
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Unfortunately for many of our MurthyDotCom and MurthyBulletin readers, the cutoff dates for India, China, and Mexico did not change. India still has a cutoff date of May 8, 2001. China has a cutoff date of August 1, 2002. Mexico remains at May 15, 2001.
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Other Worker Category
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The EB3 Other Worker category has become unavailable, due to the exhaustion of the very limited visa numbers in this category. It is expected to remain unavailable for the rest of Fiscal Year 2007, which ends September 30, 2007.
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Employment-Based Fourth / Fifth / Religious Workers and Targeted Employment (EB4/EB5 Category)
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The EB4, EB5, religious workers, and the targeted employment categories are all current.
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Translators
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This EB4 subcategory for Iraqi or Afghani nationals, who have worked with the U.S. Armed Forces as translators, continues to have a September 18, 2006 cutoff date.
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Slow DOL Processing at BPCs Helped Current EB3 Movement
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The Visa Bulletin offered an explanation for the forward movement in EB3, as well as a prediction. The reason given for the one-year jump for worldwide and the Philippines was that the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) still has significant numbers of cases at the Backlog Processing Centers (BPCs). It had been anticipated that these cases at the BPCs would move through the system faster and create a greater demand for visa numbers in EB3. Since this has not yet materialized, the immigrant visa numbers were moved forward to allow for a greater pool of eligible applicants.
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Expect Movement in EB3 for Other Countries if DOL is Slow
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The DOS stated that, unless there is a significant increase in demand (presumably coming from decisions on cases now with the DOL at the BPCs), the forward movement of numbers could continue in the EB3 worldwide category and the Philippines. Additionally, the DOS stated that this movement could be expanded to other countries of chargeability and other preference categories. This is a change from the DOS's earlier predictions discussed in our March 9, 2007 MurthyBulletin article, Employment-Based Visa Number Predictions, available on MurthyDotCom.