Charles Oppenheim, a Department of State spokesperson, has warned that this year retrogression in the employment-based second and third preference visa categories may come much earlier than usual. Historically, these categories have become backlogged in late summer shortly before the end of the federal fiscal year but remained current most of the rest of the year.
While EB-2 and EB-3 Worldwide are presently listed as Current, Section E of the December 2019 Visa Bulletin warned that “a steadily increasing level of Employment-based demand for adjustment of status cases” at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services could require establishment of Final Action Dates in the EB-2, EB-3, and EB-3 Other Worker categories as early as January 2020. Mr. Oppenheim noted that if the demand subsides—a temporary effect of clearing the pent-up demand from this summer’s retrogressions—these categories could remain Current.
Miller Mayer recommends that clients consider filing any eligible EB-2 Worldwide and EB-3 Worldwide adjustment-of-status applications before the end of the calendar year.
Details: Visa Bulletin for December 2019, https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/legal/visa-law0/visa-bulletin/2020/visa-bulletin-for-december-2019.html. The January Visa Bulletin is expected imminently.