June Check-in with DOS's Charlie Oppenheim

AILA's Department of State (DOS) Liaison Committee checks in each month with Charlie Oppenheim, the Chief of the Visa Control and Reporting Division at DOS for updates about Visa Bulletin progress. Oppenheim also provides an analysis of current trends and predicts future visa availability. His predictions of Final Action Date movement are based on his analysis of movement in each category over recent months and cases that are currently pending at the USCIS National Benefits Center. AILA posted the most recent check-in about the June 2020 Visa Bulletin on May 29, 2020. Oppenheim discussed his predictions for movement in family-based and employment-based preference categories.

Family-based Preference Categories:

The June 2020 Visa Bulletin marks F2A remaining current for one full year. Oppenheim expects this to continue for the foreseeable future, through the end of this fiscal year and into the calendar year 2021. There are small to moderate advancements in all other family-based preference categories in June as well.

Employment-based Preference Categories:

EB-1:

EB-1 Worldwide (including El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, Mexico Philippines, and Vietnam), which became current in May 2020, remains current in June. Due to the lack of EB-1 demand and the likelihood of otherwise unused numbers becoming available from the EB-5 category, Oppenheim predicts that EB-1 will remain current through the end of the fiscal year. In June, the final action date for EB-1 China advanced one month from July 15, 2017, to August 15, 2017. Also, EB-1 India jumped forward ten months from August 1, 2015, to June 8, 2016.

EB-2:

EB-2 Worldwide (including El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, Mexico Philippines, and Vietnam), remains current as well in June. Additionally, EB-2 China advanced one month from October 1, 2015, and EB-2 India advanced ten days from June 2, 2009 to June 12, 2009.

EB-3:

EB-3 Worldwide (including El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, Mexico Philippines, and Vietnam) and EB-3 Worldwide Other Workers (including El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, Mexico Philippines, and Vietnam) moved forward ten months, from January 1, 2017 to November 8, 2017. Like EB-1 India, there is a significant amount of pre-adjudicated demand in EB-3 Worldwide. This makes it more reliable that the advancements will result in visa issuances this fiscal year. EB-3 China advanced one month from May 15, 2016 to June 15, 2016 and EB-3 China Other Workers stayed at July 15, 2008. Furthermore, EB-3 India and EB-3 India other workers both advanced one month from March 1, 2009 to April 1, 2009.

EB-4:

EB-4 Worldwide (including China, India, Philippines, and Vietnam) remains current while EB-4 El Salvador Guatemala and Honduras advanced four months from August 15, 2016, to December 15, 2016. The advancement of EB-4 Mexico slowed down in June, and advanced from May 1, 2018 to June 8, 2018. According to Oppenheim, it is possible that these dates will hold into July 2020.

EB-5:

EB-5 Worldwide (including El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras, Mexico, and Philippines) Regional and Non-Regional Centers, remains current in June. Conversely, EB-5 China (Regional and Non-Regional Centers) advanced only two weeks in June, from July 1, 2015, to July 15, 2015. Similarly, EB-5 India (Regional and Non-Regional Centers) advanced only three months from October 1, 2019 to January 1, 2020. Charlie expects EB-5 India to become current by August 2020. EB-5 Vietnam (Regional and Non-Regional Centers) also advanced only three weeks from April 1, 2017 to April 22, 2017. If EB-5 India does become current by August 2020, it is possible that otherwise unused numbers might go to EB-5 Vietnam allowing that category to advance more rapidly.

For More Information:

View publicly available immigrant visa data on the State Department's website here.

Read the June 2020 Visa Bulletin here and our blog post about it here.

This blog post does not serve as legal advice and does not establish any client-attorney privilege. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact our legal team directly.

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This information comes from a news release from the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA Doc. No. 14071401).