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EB3 Retrogress - Predictions
- Thread starter PHSESAaug
- Start date
Whether EB3 numbers will become availabe in Oct05 itself or for how long is not predictable.PHSESAaug said:All,
Starting Oct'05 EB3 numbers will become available. However the priority dates will retrogress. What are your predictions for the priority date?
armie said:Whether EB3 numbers will become availabe in Oct05 itself or for how long is not predictable.
It is if you read the latest Visa Bulletin:
D. EMPLOYMENT VISA AVAILABILITY DURING FY-2006
The backlog reduction efforts of both Citizenship and Immigration Services, and the Department of Labor continue to result in very heavy demand for Employment-based numbers. It is anticipated that the amount of such cases will be sufficient to use all available numbers in many categories. As a result cut-off dates in the Employment Third preferency category will apply to the China, India, and Philippines chargeabilities beginning in October, and it is possible that Mexico may be added to this list. In addition, it is anticipated that heavy demand will require the establishment of a Third preference cut-off date on a Worldwide basis by December.
The amount of Employment demand for applicants from China and India is also likely to result in the oversubcription of the Employment First and Second preference categories for those chargeability areas. The establishment of such cut-off dates is expected to occur no later than December.
The level of demand in the Employment categories is expected to be far in excess of the annual limits, and once established, cut-off date meovements are likely to be slow.
The EB3 catagory will be "current" in the worldwide catagory until ~ December. China, Philippines and India (maybe Mexico) will have a cut-off date starting in October.
mdh
October New Fiscal Year Visa Number Allocation and USCIS Preparation for Adjudication
October New Fiscal Year Visa Number Allocation and USCIS Preparation for Adjudication of EB-3 485 Applications
From Immigration-law.com
Early next month, September, DOS will release the October 2005 Visa Bulletin and people will see the impact of new fiscal year visa number allocation on EB-3 visa number availability. As the State Department has already predicted, EB-3 visa number may become current for world-wide, and even for China and India, some numbers may become available inasmuch as their priority dates are older than the new cut-off dates which the October 2005 Visa Bulletin will establish.
Report indicates that the Service Centers have been continuously processing EB-485 cases even though their visa numbers are currently unavailable and they cannot decide the cases. They are getting ready for October 1, 2005! No wonder why the EB-3 I-485 applicants have been receiving biometic appointment letters en masse lately. This is certainly not a bad news at all.
Here are a few pointers which may help the people who have been anxiously waiting for the EB-3 visa numbers becoming available for them:
First, when you receive the biometric scheduling, you should never reschedule it as it can cause a delay in processing your EB-3 I-485 applications. For Indians and Chinese, you may learn that such rescheduling will turn out be one of the most serious mistakes you would ever have made in the immigration journey.
Second, when RFE is received for either I-140 or EB-3 I-485 applications, you should send in responses as promptly as possible so that your cases will get ready for adjudication when the EB-3 visa numbers will become availabe on October 1 and thereafter.
Third, you should not do anything that can trigger transfer of EB-3 I-485 applications to the local district offices for interview or issuance of RFE. Once the cases are transferred to the local offices, the cases are subject to the local offices processing queue and decisions can be delayed substantially. Same will be true with the RFE. Those who have changed employers using AC 21 180-rule may want to assess the advantages and disadvantages of proactively reporting their employment changes with the help of their legal counsels.
Fourth, you should not do anything that will either cause a delay in completion of the name checks or trigger trasfer of the case to local district offices for clarification of issues that surfaced through the name checks for fact findings through the interviews. Minor violations of criminal law or local ordinance that require fingerprinting may trigger transfer of the cases to local offices, no matter whether it involves a deportable offense or not. Exit from the U.S. may also be reported by BCP inspectors through the database and the surrendered I-94 documents, which can cause some delays in adjudications, even though in most cases international travelling should not and have not affected adjudication of I-485 applications.
If you have any violation of status in whatever forms after filing I-485 applications, your contact with the agencies through extension or change of nonimmigrant status should be minimized as their findings of violation of nonimmigrant status post-filing of I-485 will seriously affect your eligibility for adjustment of status.
October New Fiscal Year Visa Number Allocation and USCIS Preparation for Adjudication of EB-3 485 Applications
From Immigration-law.com
Early next month, September, DOS will release the October 2005 Visa Bulletin and people will see the impact of new fiscal year visa number allocation on EB-3 visa number availability. As the State Department has already predicted, EB-3 visa number may become current for world-wide, and even for China and India, some numbers may become available inasmuch as their priority dates are older than the new cut-off dates which the October 2005 Visa Bulletin will establish.
Report indicates that the Service Centers have been continuously processing EB-485 cases even though their visa numbers are currently unavailable and they cannot decide the cases. They are getting ready for October 1, 2005! No wonder why the EB-3 I-485 applicants have been receiving biometic appointment letters en masse lately. This is certainly not a bad news at all.
Here are a few pointers which may help the people who have been anxiously waiting for the EB-3 visa numbers becoming available for them:
First, when you receive the biometric scheduling, you should never reschedule it as it can cause a delay in processing your EB-3 I-485 applications. For Indians and Chinese, you may learn that such rescheduling will turn out be one of the most serious mistakes you would ever have made in the immigration journey.
Second, when RFE is received for either I-140 or EB-3 I-485 applications, you should send in responses as promptly as possible so that your cases will get ready for adjudication when the EB-3 visa numbers will become availabe on October 1 and thereafter.
Third, you should not do anything that can trigger transfer of EB-3 I-485 applications to the local district offices for interview or issuance of RFE. Once the cases are transferred to the local offices, the cases are subject to the local offices processing queue and decisions can be delayed substantially. Same will be true with the RFE. Those who have changed employers using AC 21 180-rule may want to assess the advantages and disadvantages of proactively reporting their employment changes with the help of their legal counsels.
Fourth, you should not do anything that will either cause a delay in completion of the name checks or trigger trasfer of the case to local district offices for clarification of issues that surfaced through the name checks for fact findings through the interviews. Minor violations of criminal law or local ordinance that require fingerprinting may trigger transfer of the cases to local offices, no matter whether it involves a deportable offense or not. Exit from the U.S. may also be reported by BCP inspectors through the database and the surrendered I-94 documents, which can cause some delays in adjudications, even though in most cases international travelling should not and have not affected adjudication of I-485 applications.
If you have any violation of status in whatever forms after filing I-485 applications, your contact with the agencies through extension or change of nonimmigrant status should be minimized as their findings of violation of nonimmigrant status post-filing of I-485 will seriously affect your eligibility for adjustment of status.
Last edited by a moderator:
mydearcard
Registered Users (C)
rkolmi,
Thanks for detail TODO (or NOTTODO) list. I am thinking of invoking AC21. Will AC21 delay processing of my case? Should I hold off on this?
thanks
Thanks for detail TODO (or NOTTODO) list. I am thinking of invoking AC21. Will AC21 delay processing of my case? Should I hold off on this?
thanks
EB-3 Visa Number Problem and Likely Relief by Pending Immigration Reform Bills
So far we have reported a depressing EB-3 visa number prediction based on the current immigration law that allocates only 140,000 a year for the employment-based immigrant visas. However, there are two leading immigration reform legislative bills pending in the Senate which are likely to give some relief to the EB-3 backlog problem, should the bills be enacted into law. One is McCain-Kennedy bill, S. 1033, and the other Cornyn-Kyl bill, S.1438. These bills have attracted a lot of attention from the media and public in two respects: Differences in the two bills in the issues of legalization of illegal aliens and the weight of border and enforcement in the nation's immigration policy.
However, from the perspective of the employment-based immigrant community, these two bills will benefit, albeit differently, the EB-3 workers tremendously. The following table compares the current EB visa number allocation system with proposed changes in the allocation system in these two bills:
Current System <==> Cornyn-Kyl bill <==> McCain-Kennedy bill
EB Total Annual Quota 140,000(100%) <==> 190,000(100%) <==> 290,000(100%)
EB-1 28.6% <==> 20.0% <==> 20.0%
EB-2 28.6% <==> 20.0% <==> 20.0%
EB-31 28.6%* <==> 35.0% <==> 35.0%
*Includes EB-3 EW unckillsed other worker upto 10,000
=> Current EB-3 EW Other Workers Included in EB-31 per current system -Current EB 3 EW is reclassified into the new EB-5 preference
=> Current EB-4 (Special Immigrants) 7.1% per current system - Current EB-4 category removed.
=> Current EB-5(Investor) 7.1% per current system - Reclassified into the new EB-4 preference
=> New EB-4(Investor) - 4.0% (Cornyn-Kyl bill); 5.0% (McCain-Kennedy bill) -Formerly EB-5
=> New EB-5(Other Workers) - Upto 36.0% (21.0%) (Cornyn-Kyl bill); Upto 30.0% (20.0%) (McCain-Kennedy bill) - Formerly EB-3 EW Other Workers. Since it is the lowest preference, if EB-1, EB-2, EB-3, and EB-3 use up their numbers, the practical available number would be the figures in the parenthesis.
Under both Cornyn-Kyl bill and McCain-Kenney bill, the big winners will be the current EB-3 workers. For instance, current EB-3 quota, excluding nurses and physical therapists, is approximately 40,000 a year including EB-3 skilled and professional workers and EB-3EW other workers (upto 10,000), but it will increase to 104,000 plus (66,500 EB-3 + 38,000 new EB-5) under Cornyn-Kyl bill, and to 159,000 plus (101,500 EB-3 + 58,000 new EB-5) under McCain-Kennedy bill. Part of this benefit will come from termination of immigration visa lottery, 55,000 (DV Program). Both bills also provide positive recapture of unused numbers in the previous years which will lead to some numbers available for the regular EB-3 workers after taking away 50,000 numbers by the nurses and physical therapists.
When it comes to the specific numbers, the two bills differ to a great extent, but remarkably both bills are committed to reducing the serious EB-3 backlogs under the current immigration quota system. This is a good news.
Source: http://www.immigration-law.com/
So bottomline is, support this bill strongly by sending letter/email/fax or phone call to your Senators/Congressman/President/Committees.
Don't know who is your senators/congressman or what to send? Click here:
http://immigrationportal.com/showpost.php?p=1202739&postcount=183
So far we have reported a depressing EB-3 visa number prediction based on the current immigration law that allocates only 140,000 a year for the employment-based immigrant visas. However, there are two leading immigration reform legislative bills pending in the Senate which are likely to give some relief to the EB-3 backlog problem, should the bills be enacted into law. One is McCain-Kennedy bill, S. 1033, and the other Cornyn-Kyl bill, S.1438. These bills have attracted a lot of attention from the media and public in two respects: Differences in the two bills in the issues of legalization of illegal aliens and the weight of border and enforcement in the nation's immigration policy.
However, from the perspective of the employment-based immigrant community, these two bills will benefit, albeit differently, the EB-3 workers tremendously. The following table compares the current EB visa number allocation system with proposed changes in the allocation system in these two bills:
Current System <==> Cornyn-Kyl bill <==> McCain-Kennedy bill
EB Total Annual Quota 140,000(100%) <==> 190,000(100%) <==> 290,000(100%)
EB-1 28.6% <==> 20.0% <==> 20.0%
EB-2 28.6% <==> 20.0% <==> 20.0%
EB-31 28.6%* <==> 35.0% <==> 35.0%
*Includes EB-3 EW unckillsed other worker upto 10,000
=> Current EB-3 EW Other Workers Included in EB-31 per current system -Current EB 3 EW is reclassified into the new EB-5 preference
=> Current EB-4 (Special Immigrants) 7.1% per current system - Current EB-4 category removed.
=> Current EB-5(Investor) 7.1% per current system - Reclassified into the new EB-4 preference
=> New EB-4(Investor) - 4.0% (Cornyn-Kyl bill); 5.0% (McCain-Kennedy bill) -Formerly EB-5
=> New EB-5(Other Workers) - Upto 36.0% (21.0%) (Cornyn-Kyl bill); Upto 30.0% (20.0%) (McCain-Kennedy bill) - Formerly EB-3 EW Other Workers. Since it is the lowest preference, if EB-1, EB-2, EB-3, and EB-3 use up their numbers, the practical available number would be the figures in the parenthesis.
Under both Cornyn-Kyl bill and McCain-Kenney bill, the big winners will be the current EB-3 workers. For instance, current EB-3 quota, excluding nurses and physical therapists, is approximately 40,000 a year including EB-3 skilled and professional workers and EB-3EW other workers (upto 10,000), but it will increase to 104,000 plus (66,500 EB-3 + 38,000 new EB-5) under Cornyn-Kyl bill, and to 159,000 plus (101,500 EB-3 + 58,000 new EB-5) under McCain-Kennedy bill. Part of this benefit will come from termination of immigration visa lottery, 55,000 (DV Program). Both bills also provide positive recapture of unused numbers in the previous years which will lead to some numbers available for the regular EB-3 workers after taking away 50,000 numbers by the nurses and physical therapists.
When it comes to the specific numbers, the two bills differ to a great extent, but remarkably both bills are committed to reducing the serious EB-3 backlogs under the current immigration quota system. This is a good news.
Source: http://www.immigration-law.com/
So bottomline is, support this bill strongly by sending letter/email/fax or phone call to your Senators/Congressman/President/Committees.
Don't know who is your senators/congressman or what to send? Click here:
http://immigrationportal.com/showpost.php?p=1202739&postcount=183