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DECEMBER 2016 – VISA ATTORNEY ENCINO – BULLETIN – EMPLOYMENT

The employment-based (EB) categories in the visa bulletin are as follows:

An applicant’s priority date is the day that the government received the employer’s PERM application. However, if a PERM application is not required, the priority date is the date the government received an EB visa petition (I-140, I-526).

A. APPLICATION FINAL ACTION DATES FOR EMPLOYMENT-BASED PREFERENCE CASES

These dates are consistent with prior visa bulletin priority dates.

Ranking World China El Salvador,
Guatemala,
Honduras
India Mexico Philippines
1st Current Current Current Current Current Current
2nd Current 10-15-12 Current 4-15-08 Current Current
3rd 8-01-16 9-08-13 8-01-16 3-15-05 8-01-16 7-22-11
Unskilled 8-01-16 12-01-05 8-01-16 3-15-05 8-01-16 7-22-11
4th Current Current 7-15-15 Current 7-15-15 Current
5th Current 4-08-14 Current Current Current Current

B. DATES FOR FILING OF EMPLOYMENT-BASED VISA APPLICATIONS

These dates indicate when immigrant applicants can send adjustment of status applications without having to wait for their priority dates to become current.

Ranking World China India Mexico Philippines
1st Current Current Current Current Current
2nd Current 3-01-13 4-22-09 Current Current
3rd Current 5-01-14 7-01-05 Current 9-01-13
Unskilled Current 8-01-09 7-01-05 Current 9-01-13
4th Current Current Current Current Current
5th Current 6-15-14 Current Current Current

DECEMBER 2016 – FAMILY VISA ATTORNEY ENCINO – BULLETIN

The family-based categories in the visa bulletin are as follows:

A family visa applicant’s priority date is the day that the government received the I-130 Petition.

A. APPLICATION FINAL ACTION DATES FOR FAMILY-SPONSORED PREFERENCE CASES

These dates are consistent with prior visa bulletin priority dates.

Ranking World China India Mexico Philippines
1st 12-01-09 12-01-09 12-01-09 4-15-95 9-15-05
2A 2-22-15 2-22-15 2-22-15 2-15-15 2-22-15
2B 5-08-10 5-08-10 5-08-10 10-15-95 3-01-06
3rd 2-15-05 2-15-05 2-15-05 12-08-94 8-15-94
4th 12-22-03 10-01-03 4-01-03 5-15-97 5-22-93

B. DATES FOR FILING FAMILY-SPONSORED VISA APPLICATIONS

These dates indicate when immigrant applicants can send adjustment of status applications without having to wait for their priority dates to become current.

Ranking World China India Mexico Philippines
1st 1-01-11 1-01-11 1-01-11 6-01-95 5-01-06
2A 11-22-15 11-22-15 11-22-15 11-22-15 11-22-15
2B 2-8-11 2-8-11 2-8-11 6-01-96 2-01-07
3rd 8-22-05 8-22-05 8-22-05 5-01-95 1-01-95
4th 7-01-04 7-01-04 5-01-04 12-01-97 4-01-94

Persons born in countries other than India, China, Mexico and the Philippines should look in the “Worldwide” current on the left side of the Visa Bulletin to determine their “priority date”. A priority date is established by the submission of a relative visa petition in the family categories, and by either the submission of an application for alien labor certification or by the submission of an employment-based visa petition in the employment categories.

The word “Current” indicates that no backlog presently exists in a particular category. Alternately, the word “Unavailable” indicates that it is not possible to apply for permanent residence in that category.