The October 2023 Visa Bulletin has finally been released, marking the first official visa bulletin of the 2024 fiscal year. The bulletin went live very late this month, more than likely due to the fact that data had to be sifted through in order to set new priority dates according to visa numbers available for the new 2024 fiscal year.
There were quite a few advancements in priority dates, including some drastic movement in the India EB2 and EB3 categories. Let’s take a deeper dive at which priority dates have changed in the October 2023 Visa Bulletin.
October 2023 Visa Bulletin Results
Here are the results of the October 2023 Visa Bulletin and the priority date changes for both family and employment-based categories.
Family-based
Final Action Date
- F2A for ROW, China, India, and the Philippines has advanced to February 8, 2019 (+1 Year, 1 Month, 7 Days)
- F2A for Mexico has advanced to February 1, 2019 (+2 Years, 5 Months)
- F4 for India advanced to October 8, 2005 (+23 Days)
- F2B for Mexico advanced to January 1, 2002 (+5 Months)
- F3 for Mexico advanced to March 8, 1998 (+1 Month, 24 Days)
Date of Filing Application
- No changes
Employment-based
Final Action Date
- EB1 for ROW, Mexico, and the Philippines are now ‘Current’
- EB1 for China advances to February 15, 2022 (+14 Days)
- EB 1 for India advances to January 1, 2017 (+5 Years)
- EB2 for ROW, Mexico, and Philippines advances to July 8, 2022 (+7 Days)
- EB2 for China advances to October 1, 2019 (+2 Months 24 Days)
- EB2 for India advances to January 1, 2012 (+1 Year)
- EB3 for ROW, Mexico, and the Philippines advances to December 1, 2021 (+1 Year 7 Months)
- EB3 for China advances to January 1, 2020 (+4 Months)
- EB3 for India advances to May 1, 2012 (+3 Years 4 Months)
- EB4 for ROW, China, Mexico, India, and the Philippines advances to January 1, 2019 (+4 Months)
Date of Filing Application
- EB1 for China advances to August 1, 2022 (+2 Months)
- EB1 for India retrogresses to July 1, 2019 (-2 Years 11 Months)
- EB2 for ROW, Mexico, and the Philippines advances to January 1, 2023 (+1 Month)
- EB2 for China advances to January 1, 2020 (+2 Months 24 Days)
- EB2 for India advances to May 15, 2012 (+14 Days)
- EB3 for ROW and Mexico retrogresses to February 1, 2023 (-3 Months)
- EB3 for China advances to September 1, 2020 (+10 Months)
- EB3 for Philippines retrogresses to January 1, 2023 (-4 Months)
- EB4 for ROW, China, India, Mexico, and the Philippines advances to March 1, 2019 (+5 Months)
Availability of Employment-based Visas for FY 2024
The DOS and USCIS have advanced most employment-based visa category priority dates in the October 2023 Visa Bulletin, reflecting the new numbers that are available for the 2024 fiscal year. They also note that further advancements may be made through the fiscal year as they track number use. This also depends upon demand for employment-based visas this year.
India EB1 Doesn’t Reach July 2023 Visa Bulletin Priority Date
In recent visa bulletins, the DOS and USCIS mentioned that India EB1 would likely return to its priority date in the July 2023 Visa Bulletin. While India EB1’s final action date did advance by 5 years to January 1, 2017, it is still far from the February 1, 2022 July 2023 Visa Bulletin date. Hopefully, India EB1 will continue to advance over the next few months as demand in this category is examined.
EB1 for ROW, Mexico, and Philippines Return to “Current” Status
Just as we predicted in our October 2023 Visa Bulletin predictions article, EB1 for ROW, Mexico, and the Philippines has returned back to its ‘Current’ status and no longer has a final action date in place.
India EB3 Finally Makes Movement
It has been a long while since we’ve seen any forward movement in the India EB3 category! The priority date in this category has finally advanced to May 1, 2012, forward progress of 3 years and 4 months.
November 2023 Visa Bulletin Predictions
The October 2023 Visa Bulletin is likely a relief for some as we see tons of priority dates move forward. Hopefully in the next coming months, we will see even more small movements as number use and demand is evaluated for fiscal year 2024.
Check back soon for our in-depth predictions of the November 2023 Visa Bulletin. To view the official October 2023 Visa Bulletin, visit the U.S. Department of State website.
