H1B Visa Lawyer Blog
I attended an American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) DC Chapter meeting on Wednesday evening in DC, where U.S. State Department, Charles Oppenheim (the man responsible for creating and publishing the monthly Visa Bulletin) informed the audience of the numbers for the November and December 2014 Visa Bulletins.
Employment Based 2nd Preference:
a. EB2 for Indian Nationals – will retrogress several years either in November 2014 or December 2014 (possibly as early as 2005), with no movement again until roughly May/June of 2015
b. EB2 for Chinese Nationals – will move 3-5 weeks per month
c. EB2 World Wide – will remain current for the foreseeable future
Employment Based 3rd Preference:
a. EB3 for Indian Nationals – will move 1-2 weeks per month
b. EB3 for Chinese Nationals – rapid movement into late 2009/early 2010
c. EB3 World Wide – will move rapidly
A question was raised by a member of the audience to Mr. Oppenheim –
Question: If an applicant was able to establish a priority date as of today, Wednesday, October 1, 2014, approximately how long would the wait be for a green card?
i. For the family based 4th preference (Brother/Sister of US Citizen)?
ii. For the employment based 2nd preference (India)?
iii. For the employment based 3rd preference (India)?
Answer: Based upon existing numbers and current demand:
i. 12+ years for all categories except Mexico and Philippines; Mexico/Philippines – 25+ years – Mr. Oppenheim stated that he already has at least 2.3 million applicants waiting in this category for a Green Card, competing for 65,000 immigrant visas issued annually
ii. Extended wait – approximately 10+ years (only 2,800 visas may be allocated annually for India EB2)
iii. Extended wait – approximately 50-70 year wait (only 2,800 visas may be allocated annually for India EB3)
– Furthermore, Mr. Oppenheim stated that he already has a list of approximately 25,000 – 30,000 cases with priority dates earlier than 2007 for this category
For a better understanding of how our Immigration System works, please refer to the American Immigration Council’s Immigration Policy Center Fact Sheet, “How the United States Immigration System Works: A Fact Sheet”. This article provides a clear breakdown of the 675,000 immigrant visas allocated annually across the Family based, Employment based, Refugee/Asylee, and Diversity visa categories.
As you can see – numbers do not lie, we desperately need to fix our broken immigration system.
Related Links:
Immigration Policy Center, 3/1/14, Fact Sheet:
How the United States Immigration System Works: A Fact Sheet
U.S. Department of State, Web Page:
Visa Bulletin