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Tuesday, November 3, 2015

On Second Thought... (changes to the October 2015 Visa Bulletin causes confusion)

Changes to the October 2015 Visa Bulletin causes confusion...

On September 9, 2015, the U.S. Dept. of State surprised lots of people by publishing its October Visa Bulletin with 2 different columns and dates used to determine when a visa applicant can apply for lawful permanent residency.

(See previous blog on the new process for determining filing dates for lawful permanent residency.  In a nutshell, the new process allows applicants to file their applications prior to the actual 'Priority Date' being current.)

A mere 16 days later, it issued a mea culpa in the form of a new revised October 2015 Visa Bulletin with revised filing dates.  Evidently, erroneous information was used to determine the appropriate 'filing dates' for certain immigrant visa preference categories.

As a consequence, the October Visa Bulletin published on September 25, 2015 reflected revised filing dates - particularly for the EB-2 China and India categories - that were not nearly as generous as the original Visa Bulletin published on September 9.  (The EB-2 category for China moved backwards nearly 1 year; the EB-2 category for India moved backwards 2 years.  The EB-3 category for the Philippines moved backwards 5 years.)

Unfortunately, for prospective immigrants who were excitedly preparing their immigrant visa applications, the amended filing dates proved to be a huge letdown.  A lawsuit - Mehta v. DOS, in the Western District of Washington - sought class-action status to compel the U.S. Dept. of State to accept applications filed pursuant to the original October Visa Bulletin published on September 9, 2015. A motion for a Temporary Restraining Order ('TRO') - in effect restraining the implementation of the revised October 2015 Visa Bulletin - was denied, and the case is still pending.

Since then, the November 2015 Visa Bulletin has been published - with very little movement in those categories; and the December 2015 Visa Bulletin should be published in the next week or so -

for now... the wait continues...



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