The January 2024 Visa Bulletin has been released, and despite what was predicted for this month, the January 2024 Visa Bulletin saw no retrogression in priority dates. In fact, many priority dates across the board have seen an advancement from the December 2023 Visa Bulletin. Both the employment-based and family-based visa categories saw a positive change in final action dates. There was significant movement across all categories and countries. The only dates that remained unchanged were the dates of filing applications in the family-based visas categories.
These large shifts do not come as a complete surprise. In a recent announcement, the USCIS released information stating that the FY 2023 to FY 2024 rollover for employment-based visas was around 10,840 visas. With the start of the fiscal year 2024, the DOS estimates the employment-based annual limit to be around 161,000 visas. As a result, we see major shifts in dates to recover from the various retrogressions we saw in FY 2023.
Additionally, this month the USCIS renewed the Certain Religious Workers Category. In last month’s bulletin, the USCIS made the Certain Religious Workers Category unavailable.
Let’s take a look at the results of the January 2024 Visa Bulletin.
January 2024 Visa Bulletin Results
Here are the results of the January 2024 Visa Bulletin and the priority date changes for both family and employment-based categories.
Family-based
Final Action Date
- F2A All Other Chargeable Areas – February 8, 2019 to November 1, 2019 +8 months & 24 days
- F2A China – February 8, 2019 to November 1, 2019 +8 months & 24 days
- F2A India – February 8, 2019 to November 1, 2019 +8 months & 24 days
- F2A Mexico – February 8, 2019 to November 1, 2019 +8 months & 14 days
- F2A Philippines – February 8, 2019 to November 1, 2019 +8 months & 24 days
- F2B All Other Chargeable Areas – September 22, 2015 to October 01, 2015 +9 days
- F2B China – September 22, 2015 to October 01, 2015 +9 days
- F2B India – September 22, 2015 to October 01, 2015 +9 days
- F2B Mexico – May 1, 2002 to October 22, 2003 +1 year, 5 months, & 21 days
- F3 All Other Chargeable Areas – January 8, 2009 to April 22, 2009 +3 months & 14 days
- F3 China – January 8, 2009 to April 22, 2009 +3 months & 14 days
- F3 India – January 8, 2009 to April 22, 2009 +3 months & 14 days
- F3 Mexico – March 22, 1998 to September 8, 1998 +5 months & 17 days
- F4 All Other Chargeable Areas – April 22, 2007 to May 22, 2007 +1 month
- F4 China – April 22, 2007 to May 22, 2007 +1 month
- F4 India – October 08, 2005 to November 15, 2005 +1 month & 7 days
- F4 Philippines – August 22, 2002 to October 15, 2002 +24 days
Date of Filing Application
- No changes
Employment-based
Final Action Date
- Certain Religious Workers category dates now added to May 15, 2019
- EB1 China – February 15, 2022 to July 1, 2022 + 4 months & 16 days
- EB1 India – January 1, 2017 to September 1, 2020 + 3 years & 8 months
- EB2 All Other Chargeable Areas – July 15, 2022 to November 1, 2022 + 3 months & 17 days
- EB2 China – October 22, 2019 to January 1, 2020 + 2 months & 10 days
- EB2 India – January 1, 2012 to March 1, 2012 + 2 months
- EB2 Mexico – July 15, 2022 to November 1, 2022 + 3 months & 17 days
- EB2 Philippines – July 15, 2022 to November 1, 2022 + 3 months & 17 days
- EB3 All Other Chargeable Areas – December 1, 2021 to August 1, 2022 + 8 months
- EB3 China – January 22, 2020 to September 1, 2020 + 7 months & 10 days
- EB3 India – May 1, 2012 to June 1, 2012 + 1 month
- EB3 Mexico – December 1, 2021 to August 1, 2022 + 8 months
- EB3 Philippines – December 1, 2021 to August 1, 2022 + 8 months
- Other Workers in All Other Chargeable Areas – August 1, 2020 to September 1, 2020 + 1 month
- Other Workers China – January 1, 2016 to January 1, 2017 + 1 year
- Other Workers India – May 1, 2012 to June 1, 2012 +1 month
- Other Workers Mexico – August 1, 2020 to September 1, 2020 + 1 month
- EB4 Across All Categories – January 1, 2019 to May 15, 2019 +5 months & 14 days
- EB5 China – October 1, 2015 to December 8, 2015 + 2 months & 7 days
- EB5 India – December 15, 2018 to December 1, 2020 +1 year, 11 months, & 16 days
Date of Filing Application
- EB1 China – August 1, 2022 to January 1, 2023 + 5 months
- EB1 India – July 1, 2019 to January 1, 2021 + 1 year & 6 months
- EB2 All Other Chargeable Categories – January 1, 2023 to February 15, 2023 + 1 month & 14 days
- EB2 Mexico – January 1, 2023 to February 15, 2023 + 1 month & 14 days
- EB2 Philippines – January 1, 2023 to February 15, 2023 + 1 month & 14 days
- EB3 China – September 1, 2020 to July 1, 2021 + 10 months
- EB4 Across All Categories – March 1, 2019 to September 1, 2019 + 6 months
Certain Religious Workers Category Renewed
Despite seeing the Certain Religious Workers Category become unavailable in the December 2023 Visa Bulletin, the USCIS extended the Employment Fourth Preference Certain Religious Workers category until February 2, 2024.
The program was initially set to expire on November 17, 2023. However, with the new fiscal year, the USCIS has a clear understanding of the demands of the coming year and has renewed the category.
February 2024 Visa Bulletin Predictions
It had initially been predicted that a possibility in January 2024 would be that the Visa Bulletin wouldn’t see much of a shift from December 2023 as the USCIS works through its backlog of visas. However, with the new year, the USCIS was able to make large changes this month as the new fiscal year brings a better understanding and clearer picture of the overall demand and current visa usage.
With that all in mind, it is safe to assume that the USCIS made large shifts this month to accurately accommodate visa demand, at least for the coming months. Therefore, we do not foresee significant changes in key categories in for the February 2024 Visa Bulletin.
Luckily, the January 2023 Visa Bulletin brought no retrogresses. We predict that February will bear the same fate. However, it is a possibility that the USCIS issues a few retrogresses in some categories after weighing the results of January 2024’s processing.
Check back soon for our detailed February 2024 Visa Bulletin Predictions article. See the U.S. Department of State website to view the January 2024 Visa Bulletin.
