The new government fiscal year is about to commence with some significant moves across the Department of State’s immigrant preference categories, which dictates the availability of green cards.

The October Visa Bulletin, which details the final action dates across various family-based and employment-based preference categories, was released earlier this week. Following is an outline of the key changes that will take effect from October 1.

Family-Based: There will be modest progress across all categories, with the most significant jump being for Indian nationals in the F-4 (brothers and sisters of adult U.S. citizens) category, with the final action date moving from January 1, 2001 this month to December 1, 2002 in October.

Employment-Based: The most significant progress will be in the employment-based preference categories, summarized as follows:
• EB-1 will become “current” (i.e. green card availability will be immediate) for nationals of all countries in October, which is great news for Indian and Chinese nationals who are currently retrogressed to January 1, 2010 in this category.
• EB-2 for nationals of all countries other than China and India will also be “current” in October, an improvement from the current final action date of February 1, 2014. EB-2 China jumps from a current final action date of January 1, 2010 to February 15, 2012 in October, while EB-2 India progresses from a current final action date of February 22, 2005 to January 15, 2007 in October.
• The news for the EB-3 and “Other Workers” preference categories is mixed. Chinese nationals will benefit most, with a jump in EB-3 from a current final action date of January 1, 2010 to January 22, 2013 in October, and a jump in “Other Country” from January 1, 2004 to January 1, 2005 in October. Nationals of The Philippines will also progress from a current final action date in both EB-3 and “Other Workers” categories of July 1, 2010 to December 1, 2010 in October. Progress for other nationals will be moderate in these preference categories.

We continually monitor preference category movements and advise current clients of any impact on their immigration matters.