August 2023 Visa Bulletin- Significant Retrogression to EB-1 India and EB-3 Worldwide

The Department of State has released the August 2023 Visa Bulletin for Employment and Family Based green card applications. To be eligible to file an employment-based adjustment of status application for August 2023, you must have a Priority Date that is earlier than the date listed on the chart here for your preference category and country. USCIS has announced on its own Visa Bulletin web page the cutoff dates for acceptance of adjustment of status applications for employment next month will be based on the Final Action Date chart. For family-based applications, the Dates for Filing chart must be used.

Highlights of the August 2023 Visa Bulletin for Final Action Dates:

• EB-1 India final action will retrogress by more than ten years to January 1, 2012.*

• EB-1 China final action will remain at February 1, 2022.

• EB-1 Worldwide final action date will have a cutoff date of August 1, 2023.

• EB-2 Worldwide final action date will advance six weeks to April 1, 2022.

• EB-2 China final action will advance one month to July 8, 2019.

• EB-2 India final action will remain at January 1, 2011.

• EB-3 Worldwide (all other countries) Professional/Skilled Workers will retrogress four months to to February 1, 2022.

• EB-3 China Professional/Skilled Workers will advance by two months to June 1, 2019.

• EB-3 India Professional/Skilled Workers will remain at January 1, 2009.

• EB-3 Worldwide Other Workers will remain at May 1, 2020.

• EB-3 China and India Other Workers will advance to September 1, 2015 and January 1, 2009, respectively.

• EB-5: For the EB-5 Unreserved categories (C5, T5, I5, and R5), India will remain at April 1, 2017 and China will remain at September 8, 2015. All other countries will remain current. The EB-5 set-aside categories (Rural, High Unemployment, and Infrastructure) will also remain current.

*The Department of State notes that depending on usage in the category and on the FY2023 annual limit, it is likely that in October 2023 the cutoff date will return to February 1, 2022, which is the Final Action date in the July Visa Bulletin.

KEY TERMS

• Priority Date (Employment-based): the date your immigrant petition (I-140 petition) was filed, or if you were subject to the PERM Labor Market Test process, the date the Labor Certification was filed with the Department of Labor.

• Priority Date (Family-based): the date your immigrant petition (I-130 petition) was filed.

• Preference Category (Employment-based): First Preference is EB-1 Priority Workers (i.e. Extraordinary Ability, Outstanding Researcher, or Multinational Manager petitions), Second Preference is EB-2 Members of the Professions Holding Advanced Degrees or Persons of Exceptional Ability; Third Preference is EB-3 Skilled Workers, Professionals, and Other Workers, Fourth Preference is Certain Special Immigrants, and Fifth Preference is EB-5 Employment Creation.

• Preference Category (Family-based): First Preference is Unmarried Sons and Daughters of U.S. Citizens, Second Preference is Spouses and Children, and Unmarried Sons and Daughters of Permanent Residents broken down to F2A (Spouses and Children of Permanent Residents) and F2B (Unmarried Sons and Daughters (21 years of age or older) of Permanent Residents), Third Preference is Married Sons and Daughters of U.S. Citizens, and Fourth Preference is Brothers and Sisters of Adult U.S. Citizens.

• Country: This is the country of your birth, even if you have become a citizen in a different country.