Department of State Releases January 2011 Visa Bulletin

The U.S. Department of State (DOS) has released its January 2011 Visa Bulletin. The Visa Bulletin sets out per country priority date cutoffs that regulate the flow of adjustment of status (AOS) and consular immigrant visa applications. Foreign nationals may file applications to adjust their status to that of permanent resident, or to obtain approval of an immigrant visa application at an American embassy or consulate abroad, provided that their priority dates are prior to the cutoff dates specified by the DOS.

What Does the January 2011 Bulletin Say?

EB-1: All EB-1 categories remain current.

EB-2: Priority dates remain current for foreign nationals in the EB-2 category from all countries except China and India.

The relevant priority date cutoffs for Indian and Chinese nationals are as follows:

China: June 22, 2006 (forward movement of two weeks)

India: May 8, 2006 (no movement)

EB-3: There is continued backlog in the EB-3 category.

The relevant priority date cutoffs for foreign nationals in the EB-3 category are as follows:

China: December 15, 2003 (forward movement of one week)

India: February 1, 2002 (forward movement of one week)

Mexico: April 15, 2003 (forward movement of nine and one-half months)

Philippines: March 22, 2005 (forward movement of one...