AILA has discussedthe Philippine EB-3 retrogression with Charlie Oppenheim, who is theDepartment of State’s Chief of the Visa Control and Reporting Division. Mr. Oppenheim is the person at DOS who writesand produces the Visa Bulletin.
While he cannot speculateas to future dates, he “hopes to advance the cut-off date throughout the summer.” This statement is consistent with MU Law’sApril 14, 2015 blog posting on this issue.
USCIS demand for PhilippineEB-3 visa numbers has increased. The DOSsays that 2,000 Philippine EB-3 visa numbers were requested in the six weekperiod leading to the publication of the may Visa Bulletin, which is a massiveincrease from Fiscal Year 2014 (Oct 1, 2013 – Sept 30, 2014). FY2014 saw a total of 3,275 Philippine EB-3 immigrantvisas used.
MU Law expects thatthe Philippine EB-3 number will return to 2014 or even 2015 in the forthcomingmonths. However if Philippine EB-3 demandcontinues the Philippine EB-3 number may eventually retrogress negatively,although it is too early to specifically estimate Visa Bulletin dates in calendaryear 2016.