The Department of State’s Visa Bulletin guru, CharlieOppenheim, hosts monthlymeetings with the American Immigration lawyers Association.  Charlie Oppenheim is the Department ofState’s Chief of the Control and Reporting Division. He is the officer who isresponsible for producing the Visa Bulletin each month.  

This month’s Check In With Charlie featuredpredictions about EB2 and EB3, which are the most popular categories for readers ofthis Blog.  Here are some of this month’shighlights:

Philippine EB-3 –Aswith last month, Charlie again offered his most optimistic predictions forthis category.  He said that he expects predictsfuture advancement at a pace of “up to six months.” He expects that the PhilippineEB-3 date should quickly move through 2012 and 2013, and quickly move into2014.  This is consistent with internal MU Law analysis, which sees thiscategory progressing at least into 2013 by the summer of 2017.  

India EB-2 – Charliehopes that the India EB-2 category can progress at a pace of “up to one month.”  He cautions that an increase in EB-3 upgradescould slow the progression of India EB-2.

India EB-3 –There was no specific comment by Charlie. MU Law expects that India EB-3 will progress at about the same 1-2 weekrate as it has in prior months.  The IndiaEB-3 date may stall/stop in the summer of 2017, as the full allotment ofnumbers gets used.  It will thenrecommence in October.  This is normal.  It happens every year.  Readour FAQ on why the Visa Bulletin progression stops in August and September.

Worldwide EB-2 andEB-3 – EB-2 will remain current for the foreseeable future.  Worldwide EB-3 will continue to move aheadsteadily and be effectively current.
China EB-2 and EB-3– These categories are the most difficult to predict because of the upgrade/downgradephenomenon of EB-2 and EB-3.  At presentChina EB-3 is 15 months ahead of EB-2.