The November 2023 Visa Bulletin remained close to stagnant from the October 2023 Visa Bulletin, which set the stage for priority dates for the 2024 fiscal year. The December 2023 Visa Bulletin will be released soon, and the minimal movement in the November 2023 Visa Bulletin brings the question of whether or not any priority dates will advance in December’s bulletin.
In the first visa bulletin of the 2024 fiscal year, the October 2023 Visa Bulletin, many of the priority dates advanced significantly to reflect the reset of visas available for the new fiscal year. However, one item of concern was the priority date for India EB1, because it did not advance to the date previously stated by USCIS. Ideally, India EB1 should be back to February 1, 2022. The USCIS also reported that they have enough employment-based visas on hand to use up all available visas for fiscal year 2024 for some categories already, so movement in employment-based categories may be slim to none. This was true for the November 2023 Visa Bulletin.
Let’s take a look at what we can expect to see in the upcoming December 2023 Visa Bulletin.
December 2023 Visa Bulletin Predictions
In the December 2023 Visa Bulletin, the first prediction is that no employment-based priority dates will move forward. This is due to the fact that it is still too early in the new fiscal year to understand demand, and also because of how many employment-based applications are already on hand with USCIS.
Additionally, no family-based visa numbers are rolling over to the employment-based category for fiscal year 2024, which leaves less number use for these visas. The total number of employment-based visas available for fiscal year 2024 is around 140,000. This is low compared to the amount of demand currently for EB visas.
India EB2 will face the least priority date movement, and possibly even some retrogression, within the coming months. As of right now, the backlog for EB2 visas for Indians is over 400,000, with some experts projecting that Indians in the U.S. waiting for an employment-based visa are facing an over 100 year waiting period due to how extreme the backlog is and the 7% per-country limit that is currently in place.
As for family-based categories, we may continue to see some slight movement in some of these categories as the USCIS works through applications. However, we don’t expect to see any significant movement until January or February 2024.
December 2023 Visa Bulletin Release Date
Based on recent trends, we expect the December 2023 Visa Bulletin to be released on November 8, 2023, or the following week around November 15, 2023.
Check back as soon as the bulletin is released for our complete breakdown of priority date changes and updates.
Additional Visa Bulletin Resources
Here are some additional resources that can help you navigate the visa bulletin and green card process.
