January 2010 Visa Bulletin including Predictions for FY 2010

The January 2010 Visa Bulletin has been released by the US Department of State.

The employment-based first preference (EB-1) category will remain current during the month of January for all nationalities, while remaining employment-based immigration categories show little movement.

Specifically, the EB-2 India category has not moved from January 22, 2005; while EB-2 China has moved forward slightly to May 1, 2005. The EB-2 category for all other nationalities remains current.

The cutoff date for EB-3 Worldwide, EB-3 China, and EB-3 Philippines, is August 1, 2002; with EB-3 India at June 22, 2001 and EB-3 Mexico at July 1, 2002. The cutoff date for EB-3 unskilled (“other”) workers, is June 1, 2001.

Further, based on current indications of demand for green cards, the January 2010 Visa Bulletin predicts the following best case scenarios:

The cutoff date for the EB-2 China category will be between July and October of 2005, by the end of FY 2010 (September 30, 2010); while EB-2 India’s will be between February to early March of 2005

The cutoff dates for the EB-3 India category will be as follows:

Worldwide: April - August 2005
China: June - September 2003
India: January - February 2002
Mexico: January - June 2004
Philippines: April - August 2005

The Department of State advises that the above date ranges are only estimates which are subject to fluctuations in demand during the coming months. The actual future cut-off dates cannot be guaranteed, and it is possible that some annual limits could be reached prior to the end of the fiscal year.