FEBRUARY 2021 VISA BULLETIN: ANALYSIS AND PREDICTIONS

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

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	01JAN20	01JAN20	C
2nd	C	15JUN16	12OCT09	C
3rd	C	01JAN18	01APR10	C

 

Table B: Dates of Filing

The USCIS will be using the Table A: Final Action Dates chart for I-485 employment-based filings. A beneficiary must be current on the above Table A chart in order to file their I-485, Adjustment of Status applications.

MU Law Analysis

Both the Philippines and Worldwide (All Other) EB-3 continue to be current.  Our opinion remains that these categories will stay current for the foreseeable future.  This month’s Visa Bulletin included a note confirming that these categories will stay current at least through May, which is the furthest projection that the DOS will make, i.e. 3 months into the future.

India EB-1 moved ahead 3.5 more months, after six months in December and five months in January. Unfortunately, India EB-2 and EB-3 each moved ahead by only about two weeks.  These slow progressions, along with the large number of India EB-2 and EB-3 filings in October, November, and December, probably means that we should only expect 1-4 week movements in India EB-2 or EB-3 for at least the rest of 2021.  This month’s Visa Bulletin included a note confirming that the EB-2 and EB-3 categories should move two weeks on average through the May Visa Bulletin.

China EB-2 and EB-3 again both moved forward by a few weeks, a trend that should continue. China EB-1 showed more progress than expected, perhaps because of declining rates of visa issuance out of the American posts in China.  This month’s Visa Bulletin included a note that says that EB-2 and EB-3 should move 2-3 weeks on average through the May Visa Bulletin.