May Visa Bulletin: Philippines F-1 and EB-3 see significant advances; F-2A is static for all regions; little movement for most EB-2 or EB-3 regions

April 24, 2014

The Department of State has released the May update to the Visa Bulletin. Employment-based categories moved very little compared with recent months. On the positive side, F-2B cutoff dates advanced over three months for many regions, and the Philippines saw significant advancement in both Family-based and employment-based categories. See the April cutoff dates here.

Family-Based Categories

F-2A was again static across all regions. The F-1 category for the Philippines moved forward 3 months, while China, India, and “All Other” saw each saw the following advancement of cutoff dates:

• 2 weeks for F-1
• 3+ months for F-2B
• 6 weeks for F-3
• 2-3 weeks for F-4

Mexico and the Philippines each saw 1-5 week advancement for F-2B, F-3, and F-4. The May cutoff dates are below:

Employment-Based Categories

May will see very little advancement of Employment-Based categories. Mexico and “All Other” will not move at all in any category. China EB-2 and India EB-3 will both see small advancements, while the largest jump will be the 4.5 month advancement for the Philippines EB-3 and Other Workers categories. The full chart is below:

 The Department of State provided no forward guidance regarding future cutoff date movement.

---

TAGS: Department of State, EB2, EB3, F2A, Visa Bulletin