The U.S. Department of State (DOS) has released the monthly visa June 2021 Visa Bulletin which features significant advancement in many employment-based green card categories and the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has issued instructions that the Final Action Dates chart for employment-based cases shall be followed. Both the Departments of State (DOS) and Homeland Security – United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (DHS), (USCIS) have specific roles in administering the law and policies related to the admission of immigrants for permanent residence to the United States. While the DOS Consular Affairs is responsible for issuing visas (allocation and assignment), the USCIS must first approve immigrant petitions as part of a multiple set of applications which also includes a role by the US Department of Labor that is responsible for ensuring that employers seeking to hire employment-based LPRs have met the minimum requirements to hire foreign workers permanently.
This bulletin is extremely important for all immigrant visa applicants as it summarizes the availability of immigrant numbers during the month of April 2021 indicating when applicants can file for the adjustment of status application (the last stage of the green card process) with the USCIS. Once the priority date (the date the immigrant visa petition is filed) becomes current (mentioned on the visa bulletin) the applicant and dependent family members can prepare to file for the I-485 can then assemble and submit the required documentation. In any given year the worldwide immigrant visa number allotment is 140,000 amongst all countries and due to the fact, each country on this list has met the quota for respective immigrant visa backlogs persists.
Below is a summary of the different categories under final action chart:
|
Employment-
based |
All Chargeability
Areas Except Those Listed |
CHINA-
mainland born |
EL SALVADOR
GUATEMALA HONDURAS |
INDIA
|
MEXICO
|
PHILIPPINES
|
VIETNAM
|
|
1st
|
C
|
C
|
C
|
C
|
C
|
C
|
C
|
|
2nd
|
C
|
01MAY17
|
C
|
01DEC10
|
C
|
C
|
C
|
|
3rd
|
C
|
01SEP18
|
C
|
01NOV11
|
C
|
C
|
C
|
|
Other Workers
|
C
|
01OCT09
|
C
|
01NOV11
|
C
|
C
|
C
|
|
4th
|
C
|
C
|
01NOV18
|
C
|
01NOV19
|
C
|
C
|
|
Certain Religious Workers
|
C
|
C
|
01NOV18
|
C
|
01NOV19
|
C
|
C
|
|
5th Non-RegionalCenter
(C5 and T5) |
C
|
15SEP15
|
C
|
C
|
C
|
C
|
15APR18
|
|
5thRegionalCenter
(I5 and R5) |
C
|
15SEP15
|
C
|
C
|
C
|
C
|
15APR18
|