NOVEMBER 2023 VISA BULLETIN: ANALYSIS AND EXPECTATIONS

The Department of State has just issued the November 2023 Visa Bulletin, which is the second of the 2024 US fiscal year  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 Chargeability  Areas Except Those Listed	CHINA- mainland  born	INDIA	MEXICO	PHILIPPINES
1st	C	15FEB22	01JAN17	C	C
2nd	15JUL22	01OCT19	01JAN12	15JUL22	15JUL22
3rd	01DEC21	01JAN20	01MAY12	01DEC21	01DEC21

Table B: Dates of Filing

The USCIS is expected to use the Table B Dates of Filing chart for I-485 employment-based filings. See: USCIS Visa Bulletin Dates

MU Law Analysis

This was one of the least interesting Visa Bulletins in a long time.  All dates are exactly as they were last month, except for All Other, Mexico, and Philippine EB-2, which advanced one week.

MU Law believes that the State Department is acting conservatively, which while frustrating, may prove to ratchet down the anxiety around the monthly chart, and provide a better measure of processing times for those involved. While no one likes a nearly two-year EB-3 retrogression for non-India and China, it may prove to be a stable set of dates.  We do expect these categories to slowly progress throughout the fiscal year pushing through 2022, and perhaps getting into 2023 before the end of the fiscal year.