The Department ofState’s Visa Bulletin guru, Charlie Oppenheim, hosts monthly meetings with the American Immigration LawyersAssociation.  Charlie Oppenheim is theDepartment of State’s Chief of the Control and Reporting Division. He is theofficer who is responsible for producing the Visa Bulletin each month.
In this month’s“Check In With Charlie,” Mr. Oppenheim discussed Philippine EB-3, saying thatBeneficiaries “should expectcontinued aggressive advancement in this category for the foreseeablefuture.”  He noted that there has notbeen an increase in demand for these visas. Because of this lack of demand, “retrogression is unlikely to happen this FY since thereare numerous visa numbers available in this category and it is already thethird quarter of the federal FY.”
Othernotes of interest:
EB-1:there should be little or no movement in any EB-1 category.
EB-2Worldwide: will continue to be Current for the foreseeable future.
EB-2 and EB-3 India: slow or little progressions of one weekor less, although EB-3 could move a little faster.  There has not yet been a surge of EB-2s“downgrading” to EB-3.
EB-2and EB-3 China:  EB-2 could advanceseveral months at a time, while EB-3 will advance a few weeks at a time.