The April 2023 Visa Bulletin has been released and the results are disappointing across the board for all green card hopefuls. Retrogression is abundant across both the family-based and employment-based preferences in popular categories including F2A, EB2, and EB4. 

The key takeaways from the April 2023 Visa Bulletin are as follows:

• A final action date was established for the family-based second category for all countries and is no longer current.

• All countries have retrogressed in the employment-based second category, with India EB2 taking the biggest hit with a 9 month retrogression.

• The employment-based fourth category also took a huge hit, retrogressing for all countries as much as 3 years and 5 months.

• El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras will no longer have their own column in the final action dates and dates for filing application charts.

April 2023 Visa Bulletin Results

Family-based

Final Action Date

Date of Filing Application

Employment-based

Final Action Date

Date of Filing Application

April 2023 Visa Bulletin Analysis

Family-based

Under the family-based preference, the main change was under the F2A category for all countries. A final action date was established, and is September 8, 2020, with the exception of Mexico, which is November 1, 2018.

There were changes on the dates for filing application chart for the family-based preference.

Employment-based

EB2 Final Action Date Changes

• Rest of World – 01NOV22 to 01JUL22 (-4 months)
• China – no change
• India – 08OCT11 to 01JAN11 (-9 months)
• Mexico – 01NOV22 to 01JUL22 (-4 months)
• Philippines – 01NOV22 to 01JUL22 (-4 months)

EB3 Final Action Date Changes

• China – 01AUG18 to 01NOV18 (+3 months)

Other Workers Final Action Date Changes

• China – 01JUL14 to 01OCT14 (+3 months)

EB4 Final Action Date Changes

• Rest of World – 01FEB22 to 01SEP18 (-3 years 5 months)
• China – 01FEB22 to 01SEP18 (-3 years 5 months)
• India – 01MAR21 to 01SEP18 (-2 years 6 months)
• Mexico – 01AUG20 to 01SEP18 (-1 year 11 months)
• Philippines – 01FEB22 to 01SEP18 (-3 years 5 months)

EB3 Dates for Filing Application Changes

• China – 01SEP18 to 01FEB19 (+5 months)

EB4 & Certain Religious Workers Dates for Filing Application Changes

• Rest of World – 01MAR22 to 01OCT18 (-3 years 5 months)
• China – 01MAR22 to 01OCT18 (-3 years 5 months)
• India – 01APR21 to 01OCT18 (-2 year 6 months)
• Mexico – 01SEP20 to 01OCT18 (-1 year 11 months)
• Philippines – 01MAR22 to 01OCT18 (-3 years 5 months)

Employment-based Second Preference Retrogression

The final action date for the employment-based second category has retrogressed for all countries, including India, Mexico, the Philippines, and Rest of World. The USCIS explains that this retrogression is due to a much higher than expected number use and demand since December 2022. Since the demand from applicants with priority dates earlier than the established final action dates is still very high, a retrogression was necessary to keep number use within the FY 2023 annual limit.

EB2 for Mexico, Philippines, and Rest of World have a final action date of July 1, 2022, and India’s EB2 final action date is now January 1, 2011.

Family-based Second Preference Final Action Date

As expected, the F2A category now has an established final action date for all countries as warned in the March 2023 Visa Bulletin. The demand in the family-based second preference category has remained high, which deemed it necessary to establish a F2A final action date to not go over number use. 

The USCIS also notes that F2A numbers exempt from per-country limits are available to applicants for all countries with priority dates earlier than November 1, 2018. F2A numbers that are subject to per-country limits are available to applicants in all countries except Mexico with priority dates beginning November 1, 2018 and earlier than September 8, 2020. Mexico F2A numbers are exempt from the per-country limit.

Employment-based Fourth Category Retrogression for All Countries

The demand in the EB4 category has continued to grow, which has required the USCIS to even further push back priority dates for all countries in this category. 

El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras Removed From Charts

The DOS is no longer including a separate column covering applications in El Salvador, Guatemala, or Honduras. Final action dates and filing dates for these countries are now included in the “All Chargeability Areas Except Those Listed” column. 

May 2023 Visa Bulletin Predictions

April 2023 is the halfway point of the fiscal year, meaning that the USCIS has a better idea of where they are in terms of number use limits. A retrogression now means that they are trying to pace themselves up until October to ensure they do not go over their limits.

Due to this reason, advancement in key categories such as F2A, EB2, and EB4 for the rest of the fiscal year may be unlikely. However, we will continue to monitor the situation and will report back soon with our May 2023 Visa Bulletin Predictions.

To view the USCIS April 2023 Visa Bulletin, visit the travel.state.gov website.