July 2008 Visa Bulletin: EB3 Unavailable
Posted Jun 13, 2008
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The U.S. Department of State (DOS) has issued the July 2008 Visa Bulletin. The significant news in the employment-based categories is that EB3 is completely unavailable for all countries of chargeability. The limit has been met for the year and, thus, will remain unavailable until the start of the next fiscal year on October 1, 2008. All other categories remain unchanged. The latest Visa Bulletin chart can always be found on MurthyDotCom.
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Summary of Visa Bulletin
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Employment-Based, First Preference (EB1)
This category remains current for all countries of chargeability.
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Employment-Based, Second Preference (EB2)
All countries of chargeability, with the exceptions of India and China, continue to be current in EB2. India and China both continue to have cutoff dates of April 1, 2004. The July 2008 Visa Bulletin explains the allocation of additional visa numbers to India and China in EB2. The law allows for visa numbers to be shifted within an EB category, without regard to country limitations, if the demand for numbers in that category is not sufficient to meet the available numbers in a calendar quarter. Because the demand is not sufficient in the category generally referred to as the rest of the world, some numbers have been shifted to India and China.
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Any visa numbers shifted in this manner must be used in date order. They may not be allocated equally between India and China. This has raised certain questions, which is why the July Visa Bulletin explains the matter in some detail. The Visa Bulletin clarifies that, because there are more EB2 applicants from India and they may have earlier priority dates, in order to comply with the date-order restriction, it is likely that more of the shifted numbers will be given to Indian nationals.
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The cutoff dates established for India and China will be modified if the demand for all other countries increases. The movement of the numbers from the category for all other countries of chargeability in EB2 does not disadvantage anyone within that category, as there are more than enough numbers to meet the demand.
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Employment-Based, Third Preference (EB3)
All countries of chargeability are now unavailable in this category. This possibility was addressed in the June 2008 Visa Bulletin. As the annual numerical limit has been reached, the unavailability will continue until more numbers are allocated on October 1, 2008.
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It should be noted that the July Visa Bulletin does not apply until July 1, 2008. Thus, anyone in EB3 who is eligible to file the I-485, Application for Adjustment of Status, in the EB3 category in June should do so before the end of the month.
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Employment-Based, Fourth (EB4) / Fifth (EB5) / Religious Workers and Targeted Employment
These categories are all current.
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Conclusion
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The USCIS appears to have made a concerted effort to adjudicate I-485 (Application for Adjustment of Status) cases quickly enough to avoid the events of last summer. Thus, the Visa Bulletin for July 2008 is very different from the Visa Bulletin of July 2007, when all dates became current, in an effort on the part of the DOS to assure that all visa numbers would be utilized. With four months remaining in fiscal year 2008, all EB3 visa numbers have been utilized, and shifts are being made in EB2 to accomplish the same goal.
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