The Department of State (DOS) Visa Bulletin for June 2008 indicates that employment-based second preference (EB-2) for India and China will move forward three months in the month of June. All other EB categories are unchanged from the May Visa Bulletin.

EB-1 remains current for all countries, including China and India. EB-2 is current for all countries other than India and China, which will move forward three months to April 1, 2004. EB-3 is unchanged from the May Visa Bulletin, with EB-3 for all countries other than China, India and Mexico remaining at March 1, 2006. For the other EB-3 categories, EB-3 China will remain at March 22, 2003, EB-3 India at November 1, 2001, and EB-3 Mexico at July 1 2002.

In discussing the current visa numbers, DOS warns that EB-3 may soon retrogress or be unavailable for all countries for the remainder of the fiscal year:

Demand for numbers, primarily by Citizenship and Immigration Services Offices for adjustment of status cases, is expected to bring the Employment Third preference category very close to the annual numerical limit in June. As a result, this category is likely to experience retrogressions or visa unavailability beginning in July. Such action would only be temporary, however, and a complete recovery of the cut-off dates would occur for October, the first month of the new fiscal year.

In light of this guidance from DOS, individuals in the EB-3 category who are eligible to file for adjustment of status (AOS) now should do so, as they may be unable to submit an AOS application later in the year. When a priority date retrogresses or becomes unavailable, any AOS applications are effectively put on hold until the priority date becomes available again.

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., Indian citizens who become Canadian citizens) are still considered nationals of their birth country for immigrant visa purposes.

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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