U.S. Department of State Publishes July 2019 Visa Bulletin

Link: https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/legal/visa-law0/visa-bulletin/2019/visa-bulletin-for-july-2019.html

Pasricha & Patel Takeaways

U.S. Department of State’s July 2019 visa bulletin contains very interesting and useful information not only about the July visa number demand, but also projections of what the visa numbers will look like in the upcoming months (at least through the end of September, which is also the end of the current fiscal year 2019).

For example, the Family-based 2nd visa preference category (F2A spouse and children of permanent residents) becoming ‘current’ for July. The expectation is that this will remain ‘current’ through September 2019. According to the Department of State, the reason for this is to help generate an increased level of demand (note: even though there are a lot of F2A I-130 filings, there are not enough applicants who are taking final action step to pursue their case full either via consular processing abroad or via adjustment of status filing in the U.S.). At the same time, the Department of State also cautions that once the F2A applicants start to bring their cases into final action, it is likely that the Department of State will have to hold the visa numbers again, so it is best that the applicants keep an eye out for the monthly visa bulletin updates in the next few months for any significant changes in this particular visa category.

Department of State also points out that for the Employment-based 5th visa preference category (EB-5) that in July, both India and Vietnam will reach their per-country annual limit. And this means that India has a final action date of May 1, 2017, and Vietnam’s EB- 5 numbers are also held for October 1, 2016. In fact, the Department of State also advises that for the month of August, both India and Vietnam’s EB-5 visa numbers will be subject to the same final action date which applies to China-mainland born E5 applicants (which has remained at October 1, 2014), and this trend will remain for the remainder of the Fiscal Year 2019. However, the Department of State does say that starting with the new fiscal year 2020, India’s EB-5 numbers will likely move to the summer or fall of 2017, while Vietnam’s EB-5 numbers will likely move to the fall or early winter of 2016.

With regards to the EB-1, EB-2, and EB-3 visa preference categories in the coming months, the Department of State also forecasts there would be no forward movement for either China or India in the EB-1 category; there may be holding of visas for China in the EB-2 category, while India in the EB-2 category could move up to one (1) week; and in the EB-3 category, China may move up to several months, while India will have little if any forward movement.

We suggest that readers keep an eye out for any updates on this issue via our website. And should our readers have any further questions about the various visa preference categories, please do not hesitate to contact our office to schedule a consultation to discuss this matter further.