The U.S. Department of State has released its August 2024 Visa Bulletin imposing per-country cut-off dates that regulate immigrant visa availability and the flow of Adjustment of Status (AOS) applications and consular Immigrant Visa application filings and approvals. In order to be “current,” the priority date held by a person applying for permanent residence must be before the cut-off date specified in the monthly Visa Bulletin.

To be eligible to file an Employment-Based (EB) AOS application, a foreign national must have a priority date that is earlier than the date listed below for his or her preference category and country of chargeability. The “C” listing indicates that the category is current and that applications may be filed with any priority date.

United States Citizenship and Immigration Services has indicated that the Final Action Dates chart must be used for the August 2024 Visa Bulletin. Final Action Dates have controlled since March 2024. Dates for Filing controlled in January and February.

The August Visa Bulletin retains the India EB-1 cut-off date of February 1, 2022. EB-1 China’s cut-off date remains at November 1, 2022. EB-1 cut-off dates for the Rest of the World, Mexico, and Philippines remain current. The Rest of the World, Mexico, and Philippines EB-2 cut-off dates stay at March 15, 2023. EB-2 India’s cut-off date moves forward by one month to July 15, 2012, and EB-2 China’s cut-off date remains at March 1, 2020. Forward movement occurred in the EB-3 India category, which moves forward one month to October 22, 2012. EB-3 China’s cut-off date remains unchanged at September 1, 2020. The EB-3 categories for the Rest of the World, Mexico, and the Philippines remain at December 1, 2021, despite fears that this category would retrogress or even become unavailable.

Final Action Dates Chart Will Control in August 2024

The Visa Bulletin includes both a Dates for Filing chart and a Final Action Dates chart. The Final Action Dates chart indicates when a priority date is current and I-485 AOS applications or Immigrant Visa applications may be approved and permanent residence granted. The Dates for Filing chart, when followed by USCIS, indicates when intending immigrants may file their AOS applications with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).

Each month, USCIS chooses to either follow the Final Action or the Dates for Filing chart. For August 2024, as noted above, the USCIS will follow the Final Action Dates for Employment-Based AOS application filings. Thus, those seeking to file applications for AOS with the USCIS in August 2024 must use the chart for the Final Action Dates shown below.

T&S Takeaway

No significant movement has occurred in the August Visa Bulletin. This appears to confirm the State Department’s plan to implement such changes on a quarterly basis. Despite the Department of State’s comment last month on the EB-3 categories for the Rest of the World, Mexico, and the Philippines that, due to high demand in these categories, “it will likely be necessary to either further retrogress the final action date or make the category ‘Unavailable’ in August”, no such retrogression or unavailability has occurred. The August Visa Bulletin does note, however, that it is “likely” that the EB-3 category will retrogress or become unavailable in September. This retrogression or unavailability will probably only last for a month, since the agency’s new fiscal year begins on October 1 and new visa numbers will become available on that date.

The attorneys of Tafapolsky & Smith LLP will monitor and analyze all developments affecting immigrant visa availability, including all statements made by DOS officers before the publication of the relevant Visa Bulletin and will provide immediate updates on any significant developments.