United States: March 2010 Visa Bulletin Reveals Minor Advancements

According to the latest Department of State Visa Bulletin, employment-based immigrant visa cut-off dates will move ahead by several weeks in the second preference category (EB-2) for China and just over one week for EB-2 India. The third preference (EB-3) professional and skilled worker subcategory will advance for all countries except Mexico.

The Department of State has released the March 2010 Visa Bulletin, its projection of immigrant visa availability for the coming month. In March, there will be a six-week advancement in priority date cut-offs for the employment-based second preference (EB-2) category for China, to July 8, 2005. EB-2 cut-off dates for India will advance 10 days to February 1, 2005. In the third employment-based preference category (EB-3) for professionals and skilled workers, cut-off dates will not advance for Mexico. EB-3 cut-off dates will advance nine days for India, to July 1, 2001, and just under three months, to December 15, 2002, for all other countries. All other categories will remain unchanged from the February 2010 bulletin.

In March 2010, priority date cut-offs for the first three employment-based immigrant categories are as follows:

EB-1
Current for all countries.

EB-2
China – July 8, 2005.
India – February 1, 2005.
All other countries – current.

EB-3 Professionals and Skilled Workers
China – December 15, 2002.
India – July 1, 2001.
Mexico – July 1, 2002.
All other countries – December 15, 2002.

EB-3 Other Workers
All countries – June 1, 2001.

See http://travel.state.gov/visa/frvi/bulletin/bulletin_4659.html for the March 2010 Visa Bulletin in its entirety.

Source: Fragomen