NOVEMBER 2020 VISA BULLETIN: LATE PUBLICATION, BUT EXCELLENT NEWS

The Department of State has just issued the November 2020 Visa Bulletin. This is the second Visa Bulletin of Fiscal Year 2021. This blog post analyzes this month's Visa Bulletin.

November 2020 Visa Bulletin

Table A: Final Action Dates -- Applications with these dates may be approved for their Green Card (Permanent Residency card) or Immigrant Visa appointment.

Employment- based	All Other	CHINA	INDIA	PHILIPPINES
1st	C	01DEC18	01DEC18	C
2nd	C	22APR16	22SEP09	C
3rd	C	01OCT17	01MAR10	C

Table B: Dates of Filing

Importantly, the USCIS announced that it will allow the more favorable Date of Filing chart for I-485 Adjustment of Status. This means that all employment-based immigrants in EB-1, EB-2 or EB-3 can file their I-485s starting October 1, 2020.  However, if they are natives of India or China, their priority date must be earlier than these dates: 

MU Law Analysis

For reasons that remain unclear the Department of State held back on publishing this Visa Bulletin about 2 weeks longer than usual.  Nevertheless, the Visa Bulletin showed continued positive trends. 

Both the Philippines and Worldwide (All Other) EB-3 continue to be current.  We expect these categories to stay current for the foreseeable future.  The only constraint to the Philippine EB-3 visas being issued is the capacity at the Embassy in Manila.  It remains to be seen how increasing COVID infection rates bear on embassies capacities.

The good news extended to India.  India EB-1, EB-2 and EB-3 all moved forward, ranging from several weeks to several months in all of these categories.  Similarly, China EB-1, EB-2 and EB-3 all moved forward at about the same rates as India.

MU expects that future Visa Bulletins will continue to have positive news, including continued forward progression in the Chinese and Indian categories.  We also expect the Philippine and Worldwide categories will remain current for the foreseeable future.