The U.S. Department of State (DOS) has released the November 2020 Visa Bulletin. There is some movement in the final action (FA) chart, but the dates for filing (DF) chart remains nearly unchanged. Moreover, in a significant move, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has announced that it will honor the State Department’s Dates for Filing chart for adjustment of status filings in November. To be eligible to file an employment-based adjustment application in November, employer-sponsored foreign nationals must have a priority date that is earlier than the date listed for their preference category and country of birth.
This is the second month in a row in which USCIS has chosen to honor the Dates for Filing chart, rather than the Final Action Date chart. In October, we saw significant advancement on this chart, particularly in the EB-2 and EB-3 categories for India and China, which allowed many applicants who were previously subject to lengthy backlogs to file adjustment of status applications. USCIS confirms that the agency will continue to accept these filings through at least the end of November. This announcement comes as a welcome reprieve, especially to Indian and Chinese nationals, who have endured such protracted retrogression in recent years.
Highlights:
- Employment-based dates for filing remain largely unchanged from October.
- USCIS will continue to honor Dates for Filing in November.
- EB-1 China and EB-1 India final action dates advance by six months to December 1, 2018.
- EB-2 China advances over seven weeks to April 22, 2016, and EB-2 India advances three weeks to September 22, 2009.
- EB-3 China advances four months to October 1, 2017, and EB-3 India advances one and a half months to March 1, 2010.
- EB-5 China remains at August 15, 2015 and EB-5 Vietnam advances by two weeks to August 15, 2017.
As a final note, we remind our readers that President Trump’s April 22 proclamation temporarily suspending the entry of certain immigrants remains in place through December 31, 2020. The proclamation continues to limit the issuance of immigrant visas by U.S. consulates abroad.
We will continue to monitor and report on the Visa Bulletin and related announcements from USCIS, the Department of State, and the White House. For additional information about please contact the attorneys at Green & Spiegel, LLC at (215) 395-8959.
