Retrogression is Not Over Forever!
Posted Jun 29, 2007
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The July 2007 Visa Bulletin, shows all categories of the employment-based (EB) Visa Numbers as "current." While this is remarkable and it was not anticipated that the numbers would move so much so quickly, it does NOT mean that retrogression has ended or that the problem with backlogs has been eliminated in any way. At the Murthy Law Firm, we are receiving questions and requests indicating that some people think the July Visa Bulletin means that retrogression is no longer a problem. Nothing could be further from the truth.
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If It Says "Current," Doesn't that Mean Retrogression is Over?
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No, retrogression is not over. The July 2007 Visa Bulletin is simply a reflection of efforts by the U.S. Department of State (DOS) to make sure that all the visa numbers allocated under the law are used by the end of Fiscal Year (FY) 2007, which ends September 30, 2007. Any FY2007 EB visa numbers that are not used by that date will be lost forever, unless there is a change in the law. Given the scarcity of visa numbers, the DOS is trying to avoid that possibility before Sep 30, 2007.
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Why Do the Immigrant Dates Keep Changing?
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In order to understand what is going on with the movement of immigrant visa numbers, one must keep in mind that there is a limited supply of visa numbers. The DOS is supposed to control the cutoff dates in the Visa Bulletin to properly spread the allocation of immigrant visa numbers throughout the fiscal year, as mandated by law. They do this based on estimates of the demand for various EB and family-based (FB) categories from certain countries. The demand comes from I-485 case approvals by the USCIS and the issuance of immigrant visas at the U.S. consulates worldwide.
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Visit our MurthyDotCom article, An Analogy to Explain Immigrant Visa Numbers, if you are interested in reading an explanation of the visa number system in simplified terms.