As we are inching closer to the end of Fiscal Year (FY) 2022, the Department of State released the September 2022 visa bulletin. As always, the visa bulletin summarizes the availability of immigrant visas both for consular processing and adjustment of status applications to be filled in July. The State Department releases both the Final Action Dates and Date of Filing Application for Employment-Based and Family-Based immigrant visas. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) confirmed which chart Applicants must use to file their Adjustment of Status Application (AOS). Below is the breakdown of the movements in the September 2022 visa bulletin.
Employment-Based Cases
The State Department’s September visa bulletin for the Final Action for Employment-Based (EB) preference cases shows no movement from the August 2022 visa bulletin. The Final Action Dates for Indian nationals in the EB-2 category remains at December 1, 2014. For Chinese citizens under the EB-2 preference category, the dates also remain at April 1, 2019. For all other countries under the EB-2 category, the dates continue to be current. In the EB-3 Professional/Skilled Workers preference category, all countries, including India and China, saw no movement. EB-3 India stays at February 15, 2012, while EB-3 China holds at April 22, 2018. The EB-1 remains current for all countries, including India and China. USCIS has confirmed applicants must use Final Action dates to file AOS in September. USCIS has multiple times confirmed their goal is to fully adjudicate the cases pending with them, therefore it is not surprising there is no movement in the September visa bulletin.
The State Department notes there has been an increase in demand for an employment-based visa from applicants both adjusting status within the U.S. and consular processing abroad. As a result, they note, most employment-based preference category limits and/or the overall employment-based preference limit for FY 2022 are expected to be reached during September. The State Department confirmed the FY-2022 numerical limits for employment-based was 281, 507. If the numerical limitation is reached, then State Department notes it will be necessary for them to immediately make the preference category “unavailable.” In that case, if applicants are in the U.S., then they will not be able to submit their adjustment of status application. Therefore, it is prudent to continue to check the USCIS website as well as the Department of State website for any changes in the visa bulletin.
Family-Based Cases
Similar to the employment-based bulletin, the Family-Based cases, remains unchanged from the August 2022 visa bulletin. Both the final action dates chart as well as dates of filing remain unchanged. As we have been mentioning, in previous summaries regarding the visa bulletin, the State Department is keeping the dates steady to allow the clearance of the backlog. Embassies and Consulates abroad are working hard to clear the backlog created by the COVID-19 global pandemic. The numerical limitation for FY-2022 for Family-Based visas was 226,000 according to the Department of State. It remains to be seen whether all those visas will be utilized by the end of the FY. As indicated by USCIS, confirming applicant use Date of Filing chart to file AOS application within the U.S.
If you have questions regarding the September 2022 visa bulletin or filing an Adjustment of Status Application, please feel free to contact us. We are with you every step of the way.