Many Employment-Based Visa Categories Now Current, ‘Other Workers’ Unavailable
July Visa Bulletin is now available.
All employment preference categories, except for third preference “Other Workers,” have been made Current for July, the Department of State’s Visa Office announced in its latest bulletin. The Department said this has been done in an effort to generate increased demand by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services for adjustment of status cases, and to maximize number use under the annual numerical limit. It is possible, however, that not all employment-based categories will remain Current for the remainder of the fiscal year. Should the rate of demand for numbers be very heavy in the coming months, it could become necessary to retrogress some cut-off dates for September, most likely for China-mainland born and India, but also possibly for Mexico and the Philippines. Severe cut-off date retrogressions are likely to occur early in FY 2008, the Department noted.
Meanwhile, the few remaining “Other Worker” numbers that were available for allocation were all used and the 5,000 annual numerical limit was reached during June. It has therefore become necessary, the Department said, to make the “Other Worker” category Unavailable for July, and it will remain so for the remainder of the fiscal year.
