VISA AVAILABILITY DURING THE COMING MONTHS
Employment-based: Cut-off date movement in several categories during recent months has been greater than originally expected. This is because demand by Citizenship and Immigration Services (CIS) offices for adjustment of status cases has been much less than anticipated. Advancement of the cut-off dates at this time should prevent a situation late in the fiscal year where there are large amounts of numbers available but not enough time to use them. Interested parties should be aware that the recent rate of cut-off date advances might not continue indefinitely; however, it is not possible to say at present how soon CIS number use will influence the cut-off date determinations. Moreover, in some categories (for instance the “Other Workers” category), cut-off date retrogression is a definite possibility should demand increase dramatically. Such retrogressions are not likely in the immediate future, but readers should be alert to the possibility as the year proceeds and watch for updates in this Bulletin. Retrogressions are normally preceded by a period of no movement of the cut-off date, as we attempt to limit future demand for numbers under the annual limit.
