EB-2 RETROGRESSION FOR INDIA & CHINA

The U.S. Department of State (DOS) expects the Employment Based Second Preference (EB-2) category for India and China (mainland) to retrogress to August 2007 by May or June of 2012.  This news comes from Charles Oppenheim, Chief of the Visa Control and Reporting Division at DOS, who spoke on upcoming green card visa number availability at the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) Midwest Regional Conference in Chicago on March 16, 2012.  One of Mr. Oppenheim’s responsibilities is to determine the monthly cut-off dates on the Visa Bulletin, which is the monthly announcement of immigrant visa availability made by DOS.

Based on this news, it is critical that any qualified Indian or Chinese (mainland) employees with a current priority date, has their adjustment of status (I-485) application submitted to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) as soon as possible.  Currently, the EB-2 priority date is listed as May 2010 for individuals from India and China (mainland).  The imminent retrogression would push back EB-2 cut-off dates for India and China (mainland) by nearly three years.

In previous years, EB-1 visas that are unused were reallocated and distributed down to the EB-2 category, which served to increase the overall number of green cards that were available to individuals from India and China (mainland).  However, in the current Fiscal Year 2012, it appears that all EB-1 visas will be used, so no visas will be reallocated down to EB-2.