The US Department of State released the latest visa bulletin for August 2009 on July 10, 2009. Whereas in July’s visa bulletin, EB-2 cut-off dates retrogressed to January 1, 2000 for Mainland China and India-born applicants, this month EB-2 cut-off dates moved forward to October 1, 2003. EB-1 remained current and EB-3 remained unavailable.
This accurately reflected our expectations that the nine year EB-2 retrogression would be short-lived. This is because there are few if any India or China-born second-preference employment based applicants from 2000 who still haven’t received visa numbers. We predict that there will be another jump in cut-off dates in September as there should only be a handful of 2003 India or China-born applicants who have not received permanent visas. In October it is very possible that EB-2 cut-off dates will reach 2005 or 2006. With regard to EB-1 visa numbers, should they become unavailable in September, this too will only be for a short period of time because September is the last month of this fiscal year. By October 1, 2009, each EB category (EB-1, EB-2, and EB-3) will have 2,800 newly available visa numbers.
In light of this news, there are two grains of wisdom that we can offer. One is that, although we cannot predict priority date movement, we can be sure that visa numbers will become available again or at least retrogress if they were previously unavailable. Therefore, we urge permanent resident applicants to take bumps in the road like last month’s nine year retrogression in stride and understand that when there is a downswing, there will eventually be an upswing.
Another piece of advice is to view the immigration process as a queuing process. Whoever submits his immigration petition first is placed in a virtual line based on his country of citizenship and filing date. Through the guidance of a skilled attorney, those people interested in pursuing permanent residency in the United States can find the best line to stand on, whether that is through the EB-1, EB-2 or EB-3 processes. From there, the sooner one saves his space in line, regardless of visa bulletin status, USCIS will eventually reach his priority date. The only sure way to lose in this path is by not applying for immigrant status at all.
“The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong, nor does food come to the wise or wealth to the brilliant or favor to the learned; but time and chance happen to them all.” (Ecclesiastes 9:11) These words of wisdom are truly applicable to the immigration process. From our years of experience, those clients who stayed on their prescribed path and who were willing to put in the time, patience, and effort found success on the sometimes bumpy road to permanent residency.
Founded in 1996, Zhang & Associates, P.C. offers legal services to clients nationwide in all aspects of U.S immigration law. We have successfully handled thousands of immigration cases.
At Zhang & Associates, P.C., our attorneys and supporting professionals are committed to providing high-quality immigration and non-immigration visa services. We specialize in NIW, EB-1, PERM, and I-485 cases. In the past
fifteen years, we have successfully helped thousands of clients get green cards. If you plan to apply for a green card, please send your CV to Attorney Jerry Zhang (info@hooyou.com) for a free evaluation.
Zhang & Associates, PC.
Silicon Valley • New York • Los Angeles • Chicago • Houston • Austin
| Tel: | 1-800-230-7040, 713-771-8433 |
| Email: | info@hooyou.com |
| website: | http://www.hooyou.com |
(01/16/2012)