DECEMBER 2018 VISA BULLETIN: TRENDS AND PREDICTIONS

The Department of State has just issued the December 2018 Visa Bulletin. This is the third Visa Bulletin of Fiscal Year 2019. This blog post analyzes this month's Visa Bulletin.

December 2018 Visa Bulletin

Table A: Final Action Dates -- Applications with these dates may be approved for their Green Card (Permanent Residency card) or Immigrant Visa appointment.

EB  Class	All Other	CHINA	INDIA	PHIL'PNES
EB-1	01JUL17	01SEP16	01SEP16	01JUL17
EB-2	C	01JUL15	01APR09	C
EB-3	C	08JUN15	01MAR09	15JUN17

Table B: Dates for Filing -- The DOS may work on applications with these dates. But the Visa cannot be approved until the date is current per Table A.

EB  Class	All Other	CHINA	INDIA	PHIL'PNES
EB-1	01JUN18	01OCT17	01OCT17	01JUN18
EB-2	C	08SEP15	22MAY09	C
EB-3	C	01DEC15	01JAN10	01AUG17

MU Law Analysis (all references are to Table A unless noted)

All Other, Mexico: As we expected, the EB-1 category moved several months. We expect continued steady movement in this category for All Other.

China: Likewise, the China EB-1 category progressed several months. This category may not move as fast as All Other in the next few Visa Bulletins. China EB-2 moved two months, although EB-3 only advanced one week. We expect EB-3 to slightly outpace EB-2 in the next few Visa Bulletins.

India: The Indian EB-3 date moved two months, which was more than expected. There is a chance that EB-3 continues to move at this pace for the next few Visa Bulletins. We expect the slow/no progress to be standard for EB-2 in the first part of FY 2019.

Philippines: The EB-3 date again also only moved up by week, which is slower than we would have liked to have seen. While over the course of FY2019, we should eventually see the EB-3 priority date extend into CY2018, we do not expect too much movement in the next few Visa Bulletins.