July 2023 Visa Bulletin: India EB3 Retrogresses More Than 3 Years

The July 2023 Visa Bulletin has released early this month, and it unfortunately brings a dismal update for the third preference under the employment-based visa category for India. Although the U.S. Department of State did warn about this upcoming retrogression in the June 2023 Visa Bulletin, it was still a surprise just how far back the prority date regressed. Among the other updates in priority dates include several small advances under the family-based visa category.

Let’s take a deeper look at the new priority dates, our analysis of the results, and what’s to come for future bulletins.

July 2023 Visa Bulletin Results

Here are the results of the July 2023 Visa Bulletin and the prority date changes for both family and employment-based categories.

Family-based

Final Action Date

July 2023 Visa Bulletin: India EB3 Retrogresses More Than 3 Years
  • F3 for ROW and China advance by 14 days to December 22, 2008
  • F4 for ROW and China advance by 14 days to April 22, 2007
  • F3 for India advances by 14 days to December 22, 2008
  • F1 for Mexico advances by 21 days to April 22, 2001
  • F2B for Mexico advances by 2 months to August 1, 2001
  • F3 for Mexico advances by 2 months and 14 days to January 15, 1998

Date of Filing Application

July 2023 Visa Bulletin: India EB3 Retrogresses More Than 3 Years
  • F1 for Mexico advances by 1 month to January 1, 2003
  • F1 for ROW, China, and India advance by 8 months to September 1, 2017
  • F2B for Mexico advances by 3 months to April 1, 2002
  • F3 for ROW, China, and India advance by 21 days to March 1, 2010
  • F4 for ROW advances by 1 month to March 1, 2008
  • F4 for Mexico advances by 14 days to April 15, 2001

Employment-based

Final Action Date

July 2023 Visa Bulletin: India EB3 Retrogresses More Than 3 Years
  • EB3 for ROW, Mexico, and Philippines retrogressed by 4 months to February 1, 2022
  • EB3 and Other Workers for India retrogressed by 3 years, 5 months, and 14 days to January 1, 2009

Date of Filing Application

July 2023 Visa Bulletin: India EB3 Retrogresses More Than 3 Years
  • No changes to the dates for filing of employment-based visa applications

Major Retrogression in the India EB3 Preference

As warned about in the June 2023 Visa Bulletin and suspected for July’s priority dates, the third employment-based preference under India saw a significant retrogression of over 3 years and 5 months. This pullback in priority date was necessary due to India EB3’s number use and the high demand within this category. Additionally, the U.S. Department of State estimates that all of the EB3 visas available for the fiscal year will be used by the end of June 2023.

Retrogression in EB3 for ROW, Mexico, and the Philippines

In the May 2023 Visa Bulletin, final action dates for EB3 for ROW, Mexico, and the Philippines were necessary to establish in order to keep number use within the 2023 fiscal year limit. This was mainly due to a much higher demand than expected within this category from applicants with priority dates earlier than the final action dates in the bulletin. Due to increase demand in EB3 for ROW, Mexico, and Philippines, a retrogression of priority dates in these categories was necessary for the July 2023 Visa Bulletin.

F2 Preference Availability – Retrogression Coming?

A final action date was established for the F2A preference back in April of 2023 due to the high demand and number use within the category. The necessity to retrogress this final action date in the coming months may be necessary as number use reaches its limit as demand grows.

Additionally, as the demand for the F2B preference continues to grow, the U.S. Department of State reports that it may be necessary to retrogress this final action date for ROW, India, and China within the coming months.

August 2023 Visa Bulletin Predictions

In the August 2023 Visa Bulletin, we can expect to see the following:

  • The F2A category final action date will retrogress for all categories
  • The F2B category final action date will retrogress for ROW, China, and India
  • The India EB2 final action date will retrogress
  • India and China’s EB1 final action date will retrogress

Check back soon for our in-depth predictions of the August 2023 Visa Bulletin!

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

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