The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has announced that it will honor the State Department’s Dates for Filing chart for adjustment of status filings in November. To be eligible to file an employment-based adjustment application in November, employer-sponsored foreign nationals must have a priority date that is earlier than the date listed below for their preference category and country.
This is the second consecutive month in which USCIS has chosen to honor the Dates for Filing chart, rather than the Final Action Date chart. In October, there was significant advancement on this chart, particularly in the EB-2 and EB-3 categories for India and China, which allowed many applicants who were previously subject to lengthy backlogs to file an adjustment of status applications. The November visa bulletin confirms that the agency will continue to accept these filings through at least the end of November.
According to the State Department’s November Visa Bulletin, final action cutoff dates for the issuance of an immigrant visa will be as follows:
|
Employment-
based |
All Chargeability
Areas Except Those Listed |
CHINA-
mainland born |
EL SALVADOR
GUATEMALA HONDURAS |
INDIA
|
MEXICO
|
PHILIPPINES
|
|
1st
|
C
|
01SEP20
|
C
|
01SEP20
|
C
|
C
|
|
2nd
|
C
|
01OCT16
|
C
|
15MAY11
|
C
|
C
|
|
3rd
|
C
|
01JUN18
|
C
|
01JAN15
|
C
|
C
|
|
Other Workers
|
C
|
01MAY09
|
C
|
01JAN15
|
C
|
C
|
|
4th
|
C
|
C
|
01FEB18
|
C
|
C
|
C
|
|
Certain Religious Workers
|
C
|
C
|
01FEB18
|
C
|
C
|
C
|
|
5th Non-Regional Center
(C5 and T5) |
C
|
15DEC15
|
C
|
C
|
C
|
C
|
|
5th Regional Center
(I5 and R5) |
C
|
15DEC15
|
C
|
C
|
C
|
|
- EB-1: India and China remain at September 2020
- EB-2: India remains at May 2011 and China at October 2016
- EB-3: India advances to January 2015 while China to June 2018
- EB-5: India is current while China remained in December 2015
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