When will Priority Dates move forward?

A

ASG2002

Registered Users (C)
Looking on the web , found the following ,

he following statement was posted on the website of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) on December 17, 2004:

"[The] State Department has indicated to AILA's [Department of State] DOS Liaison Committee that the earliest it foresees movement in the newly- retrogressed employment-based third preference per-country limits would be March 2005, but that April is probably more realistic. This is more a reflection on the limitations of the process used to count the numbers than an indication of when there in fact might be movement."

** Keep in mind that this is only a very general guess on the part of DOS and that they have not speculated as to how far the dates might move, if there is any movement.

- Information obtained from AILA InfoNet at Doc. No. 04121711 (Dec.17,2004).

looks like any movement in PD will be around March-April??

Any comments??

http://www.usvisanews.com/articles/memo2373.shtml

thanks-
 
Since March is end of 2nd quarter, DOS will check, towords the end of March, whether sufficient visa numbers are available for post-Jan2002 cases for the next quarter April-June. If yes date will move forward.

DOS has been guessing and speculating the number of EB3 cases likely to be filed in future.

AILA itself published this news; it mean there are not enough visa numbers available for cases filed in Jan 2002 for the current quarter( Jan-March). But hope for the best. Next bulletin will be published next week.

Lets not forget that USCIS might have already assigned visa number to post-Jan 2002 cases being processed. If that is the case , post Jan 2002 will get approved even if bulleting is showing diff cut off date.

If you read Yates's guidance memo carefully, it specifically states that Pipeline 485 cases will stay in suspended state untill visa number is available(there is no reference to visa bulletin cut off date). So I think 485 cases who already got their visa number, will be approved irrespective of their PD date.
 
"So I think 485 cases who already got their visa number, will be approved irrespective of their PD date."

When does a visa number get allocated to a 485 case?
During 1-140 approval ?
OR During I-485 filing?
 
Visa number is assigned during I485 filing time. They assign a A# and you can see the same on your receipt notice.
 
I think this is not a fact that visa number gets assigned when one files 485. If that were a fact, there would be no suspension of 485 cases since they will not take new 485 cases with PD after Jan 02 and all filed 485s would be adjudicated irrespective of PD and retrogression. A# number is barely a identity as a Alien in the USCIS records, the visa numbers are allotted only when the officer who is working on the 485 decides to approve it. Those cases for which visa numbers have been allotted (very few I assume) will not be affected by retrogression.
 
RoaringBull said:
Visa number is assigned during I485 filing time. They assign a A# and you can see the same on your receipt notice.
Click to expand...

There has been much talk about it: wether A# is the same as the visa number or if visa number is allocated during I-485 filing or right after the I-485 approval.
If it is the former, then that is good news for I-485 filers currently with pending cases. The same cannot be said, if it is the latter.

The Yates memo said something about Pipeline I-485s being held on their pending state until such time as a visa number becomes available. Why would a visa number not available for an I-485 if it's already assigned to it on the date of the filing? Is it logical to say that even with an A#, a I-485 case is not yet guaranteed a visa number allocation until such time that it is finally adjudicated?
We need more clarification from USCIS.
 
VISA # can not be assigned till immigrant petition is approved ( i.e. 140 )

Visa # is assigned just before 485 approval.

http://uscis.gov/graphics/howdoi/immstatemp.htm

PD can move ahead by 12 months in 6 month time frame ( i.e. by June 2005 PD can move ahead to Dec 2002 ) I am not expecting any update in next 3-4 months atleast.

However it is not clear when exactly VISA # is assigned for concurrent cases. Unless we see approval in next few days it is hard to believe that VISA # has been assigned to EB3 cases with PD > 01/2002
 
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This may be true (pd may move forward by more than 6 months)as persons not approved having pd less than jan 2002 should not be much.
Hopefully 2002 left over guys will also be not much.
Any comments Guys!
 
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PD moves fast

I hope you guys are right. My PD is Sep2002. I had an RFE and was very close to approval and heard this F***** retrogression thing. I hope this thing does not affect me more then 2-3 months.


Hope we all get our green cards soon.
 
I think the memo is a little bit confusing.

First it underline the word "physically received" on or before December 30, 2004. But it din't specify clearly like
1. Cases which were received, but no visa number issued and affected by retrogation.
2. Cases which were received, Visa number issued and affected by retrogration.

"Pipeline cases will be held in abeyance until such time as a visa number becomes available."

Abeyance mean "temporary disuse"

First of all we need to know the definition of "Pipeline cases"
Not sure this is an example : For a case USCIS received the papers on September 24th,and issed notice date on Oct 8th. The service time is between Sep 24th to Oct 8th. During this period no A# or anything will not be issed. I am thinking may be cases fall under this catogory will be pipeline cases.

If USCIS meaning of "pipeline cases" is different, then probably they might be referring to all cases which were pending with them whose PD is after jan 2002.
 
A# is not at all related with 485. One can get A# by filing only 140. A# is given when a person files "first" immigrant petition. A # and VISA # are not at all related.

In next few days we will know if some VISA # has been obtained by USCIS before 31st Dec for EB3 cases having PD > 01/2002. If we see no approvals in next 10 days it is safe assume that our cases is not going to move in next 3-4 months
 
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MD_Rockville said:
VISA # can not be assigned till immigrant petition is approved ( i.e. 140 )

Visa # is assigned just before 485 approval.

http://uscis.gov/graphics/howdoi/immstatemp.htm

PD can move ahead by 12 months in 6 month time frame ( i.e. by June 2005 PD can move ahead to Dec 2002 ) I am not expecting any update in next 3-4 months atleast.

However it is not clear when exactly VISA # is assigned for concurrent cases. Unless we see approval in next few days it is hard to believe that VISA # has been assigned to EB3 cases with PD > 01/2002
Click to expand...

VISA numbers are alloted by National Visa Center. After USCIS approves I-140, USCIS will forward I-140 to National Visa Center. NVC will look at the application in chronological order; at that time if VISA number is available based on the applicant PD then VISA number is alloted to the applicant.

So, no luck till then... we just have to wait...
 
True. Then for me with a approved 140 in April 2004, a VISA number might have been assigned by Aug-Sept 2004 ( 3-4 months to move internal VISA # request from USCIS to National VISA centre and back ) !! And then I got FP notice ( as case was ready to be adjucated ).

Fact is we will know this only after few days. ( As one officer has also mentioned over the phone to someone that retrogress will not affect these cases )
 
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In that case if any one's 140 is approved, can they presume that NVC had allready allocated the visa number. Or is there any way to find out.

Does any one know how the visa number looks like....
 
dbwr said:
Does any one know how the visa number looks like....
Click to expand...
:D we will know in less than 2 weeks..VISA # is not assigned while approving 140..just wait and have fun
 
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It is clear that VISA # is requested in < 3 weeks after 140 approval

When you complete a petition (I-130, I-140, etc.) for an immigrant visa you send it to Citizenship and Immigration Services in the Department of Homeland Security for approval. If the CIS approves the petition they will send you a Notice of Approval (I-797) and then they will send the petition to NVC. There is a delay between when you get the Notice of Receipt and the Notice of Approval from CIS and also between when you get the Notice of Approval and when NVC receives the petition. After NVC receives the petition, we will create a case record and assign a case number. We recommend that you wait at least three weeks after you get your Notice of Approval before calling NVC if you have not heard from the Center by that time.
http://travel.state.gov/visa/immigrants/types/types_1309.html
 
A# is not visa number. Visa number is not any special number. It is just quota.
The state department allots certain number of visas for people of each country for each quarter. All these days (last 3 yrs), the number of visas available are more than the number required (tied to I-485 approval). VISA NUMBER IS COUNTED ONLY AT THE TIME OF i485 APPROVAL.
Let me explain with a small example :
----------------------------------
For people of india, number of visas available for EB3 category for 2nd quarter (Jan'05 to Mar'05) = 1000 (just an example).
Then they will approve only 1000 EB3 cases from india. This is what is meant by "visa number being available". Now there is a chance that out of the 1000 available visas, only 800 cases have a PD < 1/1/2002. Then they will approve 200 cases having PD > 1/1/2002. So one might get approval even without the PD being moved officially.
It is very tough to make any guess about the dates movement in future because we don't know the demand / supply statistics. We should pray that most of the people with earlier PD are approved.
 
Thanks dsatish. One more question. Out of those 800 lets say for 100 name check has not been requested ( or FBI is not responding ). Will USCIS keep those 200 remaining quota on hold ? Out of those 800 few complicated ones may take years to get approval. What in that case ?
 
Is it holiday today to USCIS? No single approval today. Do they stop processing for a while, to keep system ready (assuming that they may need to update the software to track EB3 after jan 04 cases)?
 
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