Highlights of the October, 2015 Visa Bulletin

Starting in October, 2015, the Department of State’s monthly Visa Bulletin will contain a Date for Filing an adjustment application and a Final Action Date.  The former is the date that a family or employment based adjustment applicant can be filed.  The latter is the date on which a visa number becomes available, previously called a Priority Date.  Please see our blog entry entitled USICS to Permit Early Filing of Adjustment Applications for an explanation of these new terms and how they apply at http://www.rabinowitzrabinowitz.com.

For October, 2015, the Filing Date in family sponsored preference categories is approximately 1 year sooner that the Final Action Date.  The exception is the Philippines, which permits filings 4 years sooner than the Final Action Date.

In the employment based preference categories, EB2s for China have a Filing Date that is 2+ years sooner than the Final Action Date.  The biggest difference between Filing Date and Final Action Date is for EB3 Other Workers from the Philippines, and then EB2s for India.  The former category has a Filing Date that is 8 years sooner than the Final Action Date.  The latter has a Filing Date 6+ years sooner than the Final Action Date.  Significantly, EB5s for China has a Filing Date of 1.5+ years sooner than the Final Action Date.   Highlights of other categories follow:

Category                  Country   Filing Date          Final Action Date

EB3                               China        10/01/2013             10/15/2011
EB3                               India         07/01/2015             03/08/2004
EB3                               Mexico     09/01/2015             08/15/2015
EB3 Other Worker    China        01/01/2007             01/01/2006
EB3 Other Worker    India         07/01/2005             03/08/2004
EB3 Other Worker    Mexico     09/01/2015              08/15/2015
EB3 Other Worker    Philippines   01/01/2015          01/01/2007
EB5                               China        05/01/2015              10/08/2013

Please see http://www.travel.state.gov/content/visas/english/law-and-policy/bulletin/2016/visa-bulletin-for-october-2015.html for the complete October, 2015 Visa Bulletin.

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