August 2024 Visa Bulletin Shows Minor Forward Movement in EB-2 and EB-3 India Final Action Dates

Quick Hits

• The EB-2 and EB-3 final action dates for India will move forward one month.
• Employment-based categories for all other countries of chargeability will remain the same.
• USCIS has confirmed that final action dates must be used for employment-based filings.
• The State Department forecasts that high demand will necessitate retrogression or unavailability in the EB-3 category in September.

The EB-2 final action date for India will advance one month to July 15, 2012, and EB-3 India will advance one month to October 22, 2012. The final action dates for China, Mexico, the Philippines and “All Chargeability Areas” will stay the same under all remaining employment-based final action preference classes with no forward movement.

The August 2024 Visa Bulletin’s final action dates chart for employment-based categories is shown below.

Source: U.S. Department of State, August 2024 Visa Bulletin

USCIS has confirmed it will accept employment-based adjustment of status applications based on the final action dates chart for the August 2024 Visa Bulletin. Family-based applications may continue to use the dates for filing chart.

The State Department had originally predicted in its July 2024 Visa Bulletin that further retrogression or unavailability would be likely under the EB-3 final action category, but that did not materialize in the August 2024 bulletin. Nevertheless, the State Department predicts that due to continued high demand in the EB-3 category, “it will likely be necessary [for the State Department] to either retrogress the final action date or make the category ‘Unavailable’ in September.”

Ogletree Deakins’ Immigration Practice Group will continue to monitor developments with respect to these and other policy changes and will provide updates on the Immigration blog as additional information becomes available.

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