USCIS Sets the January 2021 Adjustment of Status Filing Charts For the Visa Bulletin
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Pasricha & Patel
With the publication of the January 2021 visa bulletin by the U.S. Department of State, the USCIS has announced that it will continue to follow the Dates for Filing for Family-Sponsored Adjustment of Status Applications for the January 2021 Visa Bulletin.
Once again, because the F2A category remains ‘Current’ on the Final Action Dates Chart for Family-sponsored preference cases, this means that applicants in the F2A category (spouses and children of permanent residents) may continue to use the Final Action Dates chart for January 2021, and this applies to all nationalities.
However, the biggest change in the January 2021 visa bulletin is for the employment-based adjustment of status applications. Unlike the past few months of following the Dates for Filing for Employment-Based Adjustment of Status Applications table, the USCIS has finally decided to use the Final Action Dates for Employment-Based Adjustment of Status Applications starting in January 2021.
This probably is the result of the USCIS deciding that it has been receiving more than enough employment-based adjustment of status applications that started with the opening of the October 2020 visa bulletin, and it is now ready to slow down the file intake at its Service Centers due to reported overwhelming receipts.
It is also possible that there is some level of anticipation that the visa numbers that were previously available for employment-based visa petitions as a result of the lack of family-based immigrant visa usage may be coming to an end. This is just a guess on our part but we will have to wait and see if this really does come to fruition starting in January 2021.
Of note on the Final Action Dates for Employment-based Adjustment of Status Applications table, the EB-1 India has moved up to September 1, 2019. In the December 2020 visa bulletin, that visa availability date was April 1, 2019. All the other visa movements for EB-2, and EB-3 for India moved slightly ahead as well. The same can be said for the EB-1, EB-2, and EB-3 preference categories for China as well.
Once again, due to the expected fluid nature of the visa number movement in these next months, and coupled by the uncertainties posed by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, we do advise readers to refer back to our site regularly for any updates and new developments about the monthly visa bulletin.
Should you have any further questions about the different visa preference categories and filing procedures, please do not hesitate to contact our office to schedule a consultation to discuss your concerns further.