I've written some time ago that the pace of EU is far ahead of other regions. None of us a sure what that means (whether there has been a dramatic quota change as Sloner suggests, or whether this is purely a case of easier cases go through faster). However, what is obvious is that we are still seeing the EU number rising at around 2000 per month. KCC have moved to slow that down (with small VB jumps over the last couple of months), but the demand was already in the system so now I imagine AP cases being resolved will be a significant demand on the remaining visas. If we continue at current pace or 2k per month (and without any quota of global limit being imposed) we would see EU at these numbers:-
End of June - 15k (These cases are already in the system as interviews booked, ready or AP)
End of July - 17k (These cases are already in the system as interviews booked, ready or AP)
End of August - 19k (These cases would come from the remaining 20K case numbers plus ready and AP cases from previous months)
End of September - 21k (These cases would come from the remaining 20K case numbers plus ready and AP cases from previous months)
I do NOT believe EU will be allowed to go to 21k (plus aos cases of around 700/800). In 2013 EU got 16.6k (including aos) from a global 51k. So - a 5k increase of quota for EU would be a HUGE surprise.
So - KCC tried to put the brakes on for EU a couple of months ago and the engine is still overheating (heading for 21k). I'm worried about that - because I think they may continue to apply the brakes. However, we will get some more idea about that in the next few days. I am nervously waiting.
By the way, every other region seems behind where they should be at this point. I am more confident to say those regions will see some bigger jumps.