The Department of State (DOS) Visa Bulletin for April 2008 indicates that visa numbers will significantly move forward in several categories, most notably for employment-based second preference (EB-2) for India-born individuals. EB-2 India was "unavailable" for the past two months, and was retrogressed to January 1, 2000 on the January Visa Bulletin. Effective April 1, 2008, the priority date for the EB-2 India category will be December 1, 2003. All other EB-2 categories are unchanged, with the EB-2 China cutoff at December 1, 2003; and EB-2 is current for all countries other than India and China.

The rest of the Visa Bulletin includes favorable news for other employment-based green card applicants. EB-1 remains current for all countries, including India and China; DOS does not foresee any retrogression in the EB-1 category for countries other than India and China. EB-2 remains current for all countries other than India and China.

EB-3 continues to move forward for all categories. EB-3 for all countries other than China, India and Mexico will advance six months to July 1, 2005. EB-3 China progressed just over two months to February 8, 2003. EB-3 India and Mexico will also move forward to October 1, 2001, reflecting two months progress for India and five months progress for Mexico.

In discussing the return of available visa numbers for India EB-2, DOS states in the Visa Bulletin:

Section 202(a)(5) of the Immigration and Nationality Act provides that if total demand will be insufficient to use all available numbers in a particular Employment preference category in a calendar quarter, then the unused numbers may be made available without regard to the annual "per-country" limit. It has been determined that based on the current level of demand being received, primarily by Citizenship and Immigration Services Offices, there would be otherwise unused numbers in the Employment Second preference category. As a result, numbers have once again become available to the India Employment Second preference category. The rate of number use in the Employment Second preference category will continue to be monitored, and it may be necessary to make adjustments should the level of demand increase substantially.

In light of this guidance from DOS, individuals in the EB-2 category should be aware that the priority dates may change in the coming months, and EB-2 India may become unavailable again later in the year, depending on overall usage of visa numbers in this category.

It is important to note that "nationality" is not the same as citizenship. Generally, DOS looks at the country of birth in determining whether a person is a national of a given country. As a result, persons who become citizens of other countries (i.e., Indians who become Canadian citizens) are still considered nationals of their birth country for immigrant visa purposes.

Visa retrogression immediately impacts only those individuals in the final stages of the permanent resident process (i.e., those seeking to file an application for adjustment of status (AOS), who are waiting for an AOS application to be adjudicated, or who are seeking to apply for an immigrant visa at a U.S. Consulate or Embassy based on an approved immigrant visa petition). Visa retrogression has no impact on the processing of a labor certification that is about to be filed or is pending with the Department of Labor. Furthermore, visa retrogression does not prohibit the filing of an I-140 immigrant visa petition.

For general information on visa retrogression, please see our FAQ on this subject. For more information on the Visa Bulletin and country quota movements, including information about movement in the Family-Based Quotas, please see our DOS Visa Bulletin and Quota Movement page which includes detailed nationality-specific charts of quota movement for the past decade.

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