June 10, 2013
The Visa Bulletin for July 2013 has been released and shows significant advance in the Employment based 3rd preference category with the exception of India and the Philippines. In general the 3rd preference category moved forward four months to January 1, 2009, and this was true as well for China 3rd preference. On the other hand, India 3rd preference moved forward only two weeks to January 22, 2003, and the Philippines 3rd preference moved forward only one week to October 1, 2006. The other good news was that the general other worker category also moved forward to January 1, 2009. While the movement in the EB-3 category is certainly good news, the State Department predicts that this category will slow down dramatically following this new advance.
On the family based side, all categories moved steadily forward but the brightest news was in the F2A general category for spouses and unmarried children of permanent residents where the category advanced four months to October 8, 2011.
For more information visit the Department of State’s Visa Bulletin.