The March2020 retrogression of the EB-3 category means that the US government has”overshot” their usage of visas in Fiscal Year 2020 (Oct 2019 – Sept2020).  In order to remedy this, thegovernment retrogresses the visas, which serves as a pause on the issuance ofnew visas.  The Philippine EB-3 dateretrogressed because of increasing demand for Worldwide immigrant visas.  The Worldwide cut-off date can never be lessfavorable than any other country’s date.
This happens every few years.  Visa approvals will slow or stop starting inMarch, until the end of the fiscal year in September.  In October 2020, new allotment 140,000 visasare released into the system.  There is achance that more visas are released into the system before the end of theFiscal Year because, from time to time, the government’s pause has its intendedeffect and more visas can be released before year-end.
If you are in any part of the visaprocess and you do not have your visa issued before March 1, 2020, your casewill be held in abeyance at the Embassy or NVC, unless you have a priority dateearlier than January 1, 2017 (Worldwide and Philippines).