JANUARY 2019 VISA BULLETIN

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

January 2019 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	PHILIPPINES
EB-1	01OCT17	15DEC16	01DEC16	01OCT17
EB-2	C	01AUG15	01APR09	C
EB-3	C	08JUN15	01MAR09	22JUN17

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	PHILIPPINES
EB-1	01JUN18	01OCT17	01OCT17	01JUN18
EB-2	C	08SEP15	22MAY09	C
EB-3	C	01JAN16	01JAN10	01AUG17

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

All Other, Mexico: As we expected, the EB-1 category again moved several months.  We expect continued steady movement in this category for All Other.  We do not see any retrogression in the future for EB2 or EB3, other than the usual retrogression at the end of the Fiscal Year.

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,

EB-3 did not advance, reflecting high demand.  Still, we expect EB-3 to slightly outpace EB-2 in the next few Visa Bulletins.

India: India EB-2 and EB-3 did not move. We expect the slow/no progress to be standard for EB-2 in the first part of FY 2019.  We are slightly more optimistic about India EB-3.

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 FY2018, we do not expect too much movement in the next few Visa Bulletins.