Cutoff dates advance in July Visa Bulletin

June 14, 2011

For advanced degree professionals from India and China, the July Visa Bulletin shows an advancement in cutoff dates of over 5 months for immigrant visas, from October 15, 2006 to March 2007. For a number of our clients, this advancement hopefully represents a conclusion to a green card process started more than 5 years ago, and is welcome news.

Immigrant visa numbers are limited by country of birth and by the immigrant visa category in which the applicant falls. This limitation has affected primarily nationals of India and China given the demand from nationals of those countries. Traditionally, there has been no wait for applicants in the EB-1 extraordinary ability category, whereas significant waits have developed in both the EB-2 category for advanced degree professionals and EB-3 category for professionals. Most physicians fall in the EB-2 employment-based visa category, whereas pharmacists typically fall in the EB-3 category where there is a greater backlog of cases.

The cutoff date correlates to a green card applicant’s priority date, which is essentially the date on which the applicant commenced the green card process. Once the cutoff date reaches the applicant’s priority date, the priority date becomes current, and the applicant’s green card or “adjustment of status” application may either be filed or it will resume processing if already pending. The following uses the EB-2 category for nationals of India as an example, showing how cutoff dates have moved (or not) in calendar year 2011.

As you can see, cutoff dates do not advance in real time. Many foreign professionals in Maine and beyond have been waiting some time for their priority dates to become current, so that their green card applications may process to conclusion.

Please contact Matt Raynes at our Bangor, Maine office with questions.

This alert is provided as general information, and is not a substitute for legal or other professional advice.