Just when all employment based categories were getting used to a forward movement among priority dates every month, The U.S. State Department released the visa bulletin for May 2021. While both EB-1 India and China had become current in April’s visa bulletin, May’s visa bulletin also shows significant movement in a few categories. Below we break down the dates for India and China.
Final Action Cut Off Dates
According to the State Department final action cutoff dates for issuance of an immigrant visa in May 2021 are:
- EB-1: China and India remain current.
- EB-2: China and India advance by three months: China is situated at December 1, 2016 and India at August 1, 2010.
- EB-3 Professionals and Skilled Workers: Priority dates for China advances by two months to May 15, 2018, and for India, they advance by five months to February 1, 2011.
- EB-5: India has been current for a while and China continues to remain at August 15, 2015.
- All other countries remain current in all the above categories.
USCIS clarified that they will use Final Action dates chart to accept adjustment applications. This was the same case in April’s visa bulletin as well.
Ironically, had they chosen to use the Dates for Filing Chart instead, China would have benefitted greatly. In the May Dates for Filing chart, EB-2 China will advance prominently to July 1, 2017 – a six month forward movements! But the EB-3, skilled worker category advances only by one month to September 1, 2018.
| EB-Category | India | China |
|---|---|---|
| EB-1 | Current | Current |
| EB-2 | May 15, 2011 | July 1, 2017 |
| EB-3 | January 1, 2015 | September 1, 2018 |
Immigrant Visa Ban – Effects
While the entry ban issued by President Trump had caused major ripples in the issuance of immigrant visas abroad, its rescission by President Biden did not improve the situation much. Reduced consular operations by U.S. consulates abroad due to the pandemic continue to limit its issuance. Many are still struggling to work through backlogs.
Eligible applicants should expect delays as consulates continue to play catch up with limited personnel and resources in the consulates abroad.
