The Department of State has released the February 2024 visa bulletin. The visa bulletin summarizes and provides an overview of the immigrant visas available in February 2024. The State Department releases this information into two charts, the Final Action Dates and Date of Filing charts for Employment-Based and Family-Based immigrant visas. For Applicants physically in the United States and filing for Adjustment of Status (AOS), the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) each month confirms which chart Applicants must use to file their applications. In February 2024, USCIS confirms Applicants may use Date of Filing both for Employment and Family-Based cases. Below, we break down the movement seen in the February 2024 visa bulletin.
Family-Based Preference Categories
In the Family-Based Preference category, the dates across preference categories and countries remain the same as in the January 2024 visa bulletin with one exception in the Final Action Date Chart. In the F2A, Spouses and Children of Permanent Residents, the dates in the Final Action Date chart advance by three months for Mexico to February 1, 2020. For the rest of the world, the dates advance by over three months, to February 8, 2020. Similar to Employment-Based preference categories, USCIS will accept AOS applications in the Family-Based preference category under the Date of Filing Chart, which remains the same as the January 2024 visa bulletin.
Employment-Based Preference Categories
Following the advancement we saw in the January 2024 Employment-Based visa bulletin, we see some modest advancement movements in some categories while the rest remain unmoved. As mentioned above, USCIS for the unprecedented five-months in row will be using the Date of Filing Chart to accept applications in February 2024. Considering that the Dates for Filing chart typically contains more progressive cutoff dates than the Final Action Dates chart, it is better than the alternative. With that being said, the Dates for Filing remain unchanged from the prior month.
EB-1
For the first preference category, EB-1 – Priority Workers, for Applicants for the rest of the world excluding India and China, the dates remain current. This means Applicants can apply for immigrant visa or AOS applications right away. For India and China, the dates remain the same as the January 2024 visa bulletin. For China, the dates remain at July 1, 2022. For India the dates remain at September 1, 2020.
EB-2
In the second preference category, EB-2 – Members of the Professions Holding Advanced Degrees or Persons of Exceptional Ability category, we see slight movement for the rest of the world, once again excluding India and China. For the rest of the world, the dates advance by two weeks, to November 15, 2022. For India and China, the dates remain the same as the January 2024 visa bulletin. For India, the cutoff dates are March 1, 2012. For China, the cutoff dates are January 1, 2020.
EB-3
In the third preference category, EB-3 – Skilled Workers, Professionals, and Other Workers, we continue to see more modest advancement for all except China. The dates for China remain unchanged from January 2024 visa bulletin at September 1, 2020. For India the dates advance by one month, to July 1, 2012. For the rest of the world, the dates also advance by one month, to September 1, 2022.
EB-4
In the fourth preference category EB-4 – Minister and Non-Minister Religious Workers, the dates remain the same as the January 2024 visa bulletin across the world, at May 15, 2019. However, the Non-Minister Religious Worker Program will expire on February 2, 2024, without further Congress action. If there is no action taken by Congress to extend the program, the category will become “unavailable” as of February 2. As a result, as of February 2, the State Department won’t issue any immigrant visas and USCIS won’t approve any pending adjustment of status applications until Congress passes reauthorization legislation.
EB-5
In the fifth and last preference category, EB-5 – Investors, the dates remain the same as in January 2024 visa bulletin across the board for the most part. For the EB-5 Unreserved categories – C5, T5, I5, and R5 – the dates for India will remain at December 1, 2020. For China, the dates will advance by one week, to December 15, 2015. For the rest of the world, the dates remain current. For EB-5 set-aside categories – Rural, High Unemployment, and Infrastructure – will also remain current for everyone.
We continue to monitor and report predictions and movements related to the monthly visa bulletin. If you have questions regarding your priority date, please feel free to contact us. We put our extensive experience and expertise to work for you to ensure you get the right advice.