The Department of Statehas recently issued the March 2023 Visa Bulletin. This blogpost analyzes this month’s Visa Bulletin.
Visa Bulletin
Table A: Final Action Dates — Applications with thesedates may be approved for their Green Card (Permanent Residency card) orImmigrant Visa appointment.
|
EB |
Worldwide |
CHINA |
INDIA |
PHILIPPINES |
|
1st |
C |
01FEB22 |
01FEB22 |
C |
|
2nd |
01NOV22 |
08JUN19 |
08OCT11 |
01NOV22 |
|
3rd |
C |
01AUG18 |
15JUN12 |
C |
|
Other workers |
01JAN20 |
22DEC13 |
15JUN12 |
01JAN20 |
Table B: Dates of Filing
The USCIS is using theTable B Dates of Filing chart for I-485 employment-based filings. See: USCIS Visa Bulletin Dates
MU Law Analysis
Thiswas an uneventful Visa Bulletin. Alldates remain the same as in the February Visa Bulletin.
Havingsaid this, the Visa Bulletin included a foreboding Note,
E. VISA AVAILABILITY IN THE EMPLOYMENT-BASED THIRD(EB-3) PREFERENCE CATEGORY
Increaseddemand in the Employment Third category may necessitate the establishment of aworldwide final action date (including Mexico and Philippines) in the comingmonths to hold number use within the maximum allowed under the Fiscal Year 2023annual limit. This situation will be continually monitored, and any necessaryadjustments will be made accordingly.
Thismeans that retrogression is coming for all EB-3 categories, including thePhilippines and Worldwide.
Aswe have mentioned in our last few blogs, the FY 2023 employment-based immigrantvisa limit is 197,000, as compared with 281,507 in FY 2022. These quotas are greater than the usual140,000 employment-based limit because of spillovers of unused family-basedimmigrant visas in the prior fiscal year. Slowdowns related to COVID caused theallocation of family-based visas to be short of the limit. It is expected that theemployment-based quota will return to 140,000 in FY 2024, which starts October1, 2023.