January 2007 Visa Bulletin : Not a "Happy New Year"
Posted Dec 15, 2006
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The U.S. Department of State (DOS) has issued the first Visa Bulletin for the new calendar year.  The January 2007 Visa Bulletin does not bring good tidings for everyone who hoped to start the year on a happy note. The employment-based (EB) categories were all either unchanged or had extremely limited forward movement. The only good news is that there was no further retrogression and that the EB3 preference category for Indian nationals broke the April 30, 2001 barrier and moved forward to May 8, 2001. All of the categories that were previously "current" continued to be current, and no category moved backward. There was a change in Schedule A, from unavailable to a June 15, 2004 cutoff date. [The most recent DOS Visa Bulletin cutoff dates are always available on MurthyDotCom and, now, as well as via RSS feed.]
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Employment-Based First Preference
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The EB1 category remains current for all countries of chargeability.
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Employment-Based Second Preference
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In the EB2 category, all countries remain current except China and India. The cutoff dates for persons from mainland China and India remain unchanged. China continues to have a cutoff date of April 22, 2005. India continues to have a cutoff date of January 8, 2003. It is likely that these dates will remain stagnant in the near future, due to increasing demand for visa numbers.
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Employment-Based Third Preference
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India's cutoff date moved forward slightly, from April 22, 2001 to May 8, 2001. This slight movement may be significant, as it takes India past April 30, 2001, which was the deadline for 245(i) filings. This has importance because there were enormous numbers of cases filed on or right before April 30, 2001.
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The only other country of chargeability that moved forward at all in EB3 was Mexico, which moved by a few days to May 15, 2001. All other areas of chargeability stayed at August 1, 2002, including worldwide, China, and the Philippines.
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Other Workers
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The Other Worker category was unchanged, with a cutoff date of October 1, 2001.
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Schedule A Workers
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The Schedule A category moved from "unavailable" to a cutoff date of June 15, 2004. This simply means that there are very few remaining of the 50,000 visas allocated to this category. The category was supposed to be eliminated in the January Visa Bulletin. Some numbers that had been issued to consulates for November were returned as unused, however, making them available again. Once these numbers are gone, the Schedule A cases will return to being counted with EB3, unless there is legislative relief.
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Iraqi or Afghani Translators

This new subcategory within EB4 applies only to 50 Iraqi or Afghani nationals who have worked with the U.S. Armed Forces as translators for at least 12 months. The cutoff date remains at September 18, 2006.
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Future Predictions by DOS
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The Visa Bulletin indicated that the already heavy demand for EB2 visa numbers for China and India has been increasing. The DOS stated that the cutoff dates will not be able to move forward until current demand decreases.