The February 2025 Visa Bulletin has been released, and, unfortunately, it brings little to celebrate. As anticipated in our January 2025 Visa Bulletin analysis, the USCIS has taken a “wait and watch” approach, leading to virtually no changes in priority dates across all major visa categories. While this cautious strategy aligns with our predictions, it’s hard not to feel disappointed that even key categories that have consistently shown small, positive movement in previous months remain unchanged.
The bulletin has left us with a sense of stagnancy that raises questions about the USCIS’s long-term strategy and priorities. Let’s break down this month’s results and what they may indicate for the months ahead.
Family-based
Final Action Date
- No Change
Date of Filing Application
- No Change
Employment-based
Final Action Date
- “Certain Religious Workers” Category is available again – January 1, 2021 across all categories
Date of Filing Application
- No Changes
Certain Religious Workers Category Available Again
The only significant update in this month’s bulletin is the return of the “Certain Religious Workers” category, which had become unavailable last month. This is a welcome, albeit expected, development that many of us anticipated based on historical trends.
Analysis of February 2025 Visa Bulletin Results
While the lack of movement is disappointing, it’s worth noting that there have been no pullbacks in priority dates—a positive sign that the USCIS is maintaining stability. Historically, stagnancy in the Visa Bulletin has sometimes been followed by retrogressions, but that doesn’t seem to be the case here. Instead, this pause could reflect a deliberate approach to balancing demand with processing capacity.
Given the political climate and shifting priorities in Washington, it’s possible the USCIS is being cautious in making adjustments while it assesses current visa demand and capacity. We can also take comfort in the fact that certain categories, like EB2 India and EB2 China, have seen consistent positive changes over the past few months, even if February didn’t bring any new progress.
March 2025 Visa Bulletin Predictions
Looking ahead, we remain cautiously optimistic. While larger jumps may still be on the horizon, the USCIS appears to be prioritizing stability for now. For March 2025, we may see a continuation of small, incremental changes in categories that are in high demand. It’s also possible that stagnancy could persist while the agency evaluates its resources and capacity.
While this month’s results weren’t what we hoped for, we’ll keep monitoring these updates and hope for more movement in the months ahead.
See the U.S. Department of State website to view the full February 2025 Visa Bulletin.
