EB3 Numbers Move Forward; "Other Workers" Retrogress
Posted Feb 11, 2005

Skilled/Professional EB3 Dates Move Forward
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The U.S. Department of State Visa Bulletin for March 2005 was just released providing the movement of priority dates. The Visa Bulletin reflects forward movement of two months for EB3 skilled / professional workers from India, the Philippines, and mainland China. For the month of March 2005, the current priority date for EB3 skilled / professional workers from these countries will be March 1, 2002. This is a progress of two month from the previous date of January 1, 2002 for these nationals in the EB3 category. This potential forward movement was predicted in our January 7, 2005 MurthyBulletin article, EB3 Number Expectations. The priority dates for EB3 individuals from all other countries are "current," meaning that there are enough visa numbers for all of these cases at this time, regardless of priority date and regardless of employment-based second (EB2) or employment-based third (EB3) preference categories.
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EB3 "Other Workers" Retrogress
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Separate from the EB3 skilled / professional workers are EB3 "other workers." These are cases for positions that require less than two years of training or experience. These dates retrogressed for persons from all countries to July 1, 2001. These dates were previously "current" for all countries. The likelihood of this retrogression was covered in our February 4, 2005, MurthyBulletin article, EB3 "Other Worker" Category May Retrogress, available on MurthyDotCom.
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We will continue to update MurthyDotCom and MurthyBulletin readers about retrogression and how it impacts various immigration cases and questions.