March Visa Bulletin : Still No Movement for EB Categories
Posted Feb 16, 2007
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The U.S. Department of State (DOS) Visa Bulletin for March 2007 is identical to the January and February 2007 Visa Bulletins for the Employment-Based categories. It also contained a prediction with respect to EB3, stating that little, if any, forward movement is expected in the near future. In fact, it is possible that EB3 will retrogress even further. As a quick reference, the contents of the Visa Bulletin are summarized below. [The most recent Visa Bulletin chart is always available on MurthyDotCom.]
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Employment-Based First Preference (EB1)

This is current for all countries of chargeability.
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Employment-Based Second Preference (EB2)
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China and India have cutoff dates. All other countries of chargeability remain current. China's cutoff date is April 22, 2005. India continues to have a cutoff date of January 8, 2003.
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Employment-Based Third Preference (EB3) - Possible Additional Retrogression
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All countries have cutoff dates. India remains at May 8, 2001 and Mexico is at May 15, 2001. China, the Philippines, and worldwide continue to have cutoff dates of August 1, 2002.
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As stated, the Visa Bulletin predicts that EB3 is unlikely to move forward in the near future, and that any potential forward movement will be small. The DOS notes that the demand for visa numbers with priority dates before the August 2002 cutoff is expected to remain high, because both the Department of Labor (DOL) and the USCIS are working to clear case backlogs. These backlog reduction efforts could cause the dates to retrogress even further in spring or summer 2007.
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Other Workers
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The Other Worker category still has an October 1, 2001 cutoff date.
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Employment Based Fourth / Fifth / Religious Workers and Targeted Employment
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The EB4, EB5, religious worker, and the targeted employment categories are all current.
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Translators
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This is the new EB4 subcategory for Iraqi or Afghani nationals who have worked with the U.S. Armed Forces as translators for at least 12 months. It continues to have a September 18, 2006 cutoff.
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Future
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Predictions for the future, which are not positive, all pertain to EB3 and are described above. The cutoff dates for the limited supply of visa numbers are based on actual and anticipated demand for those numbers. This demand for numbers is, to a large extent, being fueled by the approval of older labor certifications through the DOL Backlog Processing Centers. We know that this is a great source of frustration to many MurthyDotCom and MurthyBulletin readers.