Several categories continue to be, or will become, retrogressed.
EB-1 retrogression: India and China continue to be retrogressed in the EB-1 category from being current to a final action date of January 1, 2012, which has been the case since the April 2018 visa bulletin (VB). Even though this category is expected to return to being current in in the new fiscal year (starting October 1, 2018), it is possible that these two countries will retrogress again early in the new fiscal year (as opposed to in the latter part of the fiscal year, which has been a recent trend). All other countries in this category are expected to retrogress in August or September from being current to having a final action date, but will return to being current in October.
EB-2 retrogression: All countries (except India and China) are expected to retrogress in August or September from being current to having a final action date, but are also expected to return to being current in October. China and India continue to be the exceptions in that they both continue to have final action dates that experience little movement forward, and neither country is anticipated to experience meaningful movement for the next few months.
EB-3 retrogression: The final action date for China retrogressed two years, but is expected to return to a 2015 date as of the new fiscal year. The retrogression was due to increased demand as many Chinese nationals “downgraded” to the China EB-3 category when the final action date was better than the China EB-2 final action date
The final action dates for India and China still are retrogressed to January 1, 2012, which has been the case since the April 2018 VB, but are expected to become current again in the new fiscal year (which started October 1, 2018). However, the final action date may retrogress again for these two countries, albeit earlier, in the next fiscal year (as opposed to towards the end of the fiscal year). Further, a final action date is expected to be imposed on all countries either in August or September, but will return to being current in October.
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.
