March Visa Bulletin
February 8, 2010
Hopefully the sun does not run out of hydrogen before many of your foreign national employees obtain permanent residence given severe visa retrogression. [Permanent visas remain available for all nationalities in the EB-1 first preference category, and are available for all nationalities except Indians and Chinese in the EB-2 second preference category.]
For the month of March, EB-2 permanent visas for nationals of China are only available for priority dates of July 8, 2005; and for India, for priority dates of February 1, 2005. For the EB-3 third preference category, all nationalities, including China and the Philippines, face a seven year lag, needing priority dates of December 15, 2002. For India and Mexico, the story is more dire in this category: permanent visas for nationals of India are only available for priority dates of July 1, 2001; and for Mexico, priority dates of July 1, 2002.
As always, we closely monitor visa retrogression and contact our clients' employees and the government when their priority dates become current, and provide strategic planning on next steps, as applicable.
Access the U.S. Department of State's Visa Bulletin for all preference categories; as well as the government's summary of visa allotment.