On Wednesday, September 8, 2022, the U.S. Department of State released the monthly October 2022 Visa Bulletin. As of October 1, the start of the government’s new FY 2023, the India EB2 category will retrogress, so there is no longer any difference between the India EB2 and EB3 “final action” priority dates for the month of October 2022. USCIS will continue to accept employment-based and family based I-485 adjustment of status applications according to the “Date for Filing” priority dates table.
In addition, there are informal reports that USCIS may exhaust immigrant visa numbers in certain categories (such as India EB1 and EB2) prior to September 30, 2022. If this occurs, applications otherwise approvable might not be approved despite the priority date being listed as current per the September 2022 Visa Bulletin, due to the unavailability of immigrant visa numbers. This is not unusual for the end of the government’s fiscal year and new numbers will be available again in October.
In addressing its longstanding backlog of I-485 applications with the goal of using up all available immigrant visa numbers during FY2022, USCIS stopped following the principle of “first in first out”, in many cases adjudicating more recently filed I-485 applications ahead of earlier filed applications. USCIS also modified its processing time reports to lengthen what qualified as “normal” processing time, making it impossible to follow up on long pending cases.
In addition, USCIS transferred many pending I-485 applications from its Service Centers to local field offices for assistance. These local field offices varied widely in their interpretation of what constituted a I-485 application eligible for final adjudication. While some offices approved I-485 applications without a Request for Evidence (RFE) or interview, other offices demanded documentation for similarly prepared applications or issued notices requiring in person interviews. In some cases, USCIS RFEs demanded documentation already submitted, such as medical reports. These changes resulted in a highly inconsistent pattern of adjudications.
Notably, in the situation where the principal beneficiary’s I-485 application was approved but the dependent spouse/child applications remain pending, these dependents no longer maintain any previously held H-4 or L-2 status and can no longer use related visas or apply for such visas. They must have an Advance Parole document in hand to travel internationally.
If you are a client of Jackson & Hertogs and have specific questions about your case, please contact your responsible attorney.
