US Department of State Releases March 2023 Visa Bulletin

The US Citizenship and Immigration Services will continue to use the Dates for Filing Chart in March 2023. There is retrogression in the Other Works category for All Chargeability areas, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, and the Philippines.

The US Department of State has released its March 2023 Visa Bulletin, outlining per-country priority date cutoffs that regulate immigrant visa availability and the flow of adjustment of status application and consular immigrant visa application filings and approvals.

WHAT DOES THE MARCH 2023 VISA BULLETIN SAY?

The bulletin includes both a Dates for Filing Visa Applications chart and an Application Final Action Dates chart. The former indicates when intending immigrants may file their applications for adjustments of status or immigrant visas, and the latter indicates when adjustment of status applications or immigrant visa applications may be approved and permanent residence granted.

Each month, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) chooses which chart it will follow. For March 2023, the USCIS will follow the Dates for Filing chart for employment-based (EB) filings for adjustment of status. This means that individuals seeking to file applications for adjustment of status with the USCIS in March 2023 must use the Dates for Filing chart below.

DATES FOR FILING CUTOFF DATES

To be eligible to file an EB adjustment application in March 2023, a foreign national must have a priority date that is earlier than the date listed below for their preference category and country. The “C” listing indicates that the category is current, and that applications may be filed regardless of the applicant’s priority date. The listing of a date for any category indicates that only applicants with a priority date that is earlier than the listed date may file their applications.

Employment-Based First Preference (EB-1)

The EB-1 cutoff date will remain at June 1, 2022 for China and India. This means that China and India EB-1 applicants whose I-485 applications have not yet been filed and have a priority date before June 1, 2022 can file their I-485 applications with the USCIS. All other EB-1 categories remain Current, with no cutoff dates.

Employment-Based Second Preference (EB-2)

The EB-2 cutoff date for All Chargeable Areas; El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras; Mexico; and the Philippines will remain at December 1, 2022. This means that all applicants who are chargeable to these areas whose I-485 applications have not yet been filed and have a priority date before December 1, 2022 can file their I-485 applications with the USCIS.

The EB-2 cutoff date for China will remain at July 8, 2019. This means that China EB-2 applicants whose I-485 applications have not yet been filed and have a priority date before July 8, 2019 can file their I-485 applications with the USCIS.

The EB-2 cutoff date for India will remain at May 1, 2012. This means that India EB-2 applicants whose I-485 applications have not yet been filed and have a priority date before May 1, 2012 can file their I-485 applications with the USCIS.

Employment-Based Third Preference (EB-3)

The EB-3 cutoff date for China will remain at September 1, 2018. This means that China EB-3 applicants whose I-485 applications have not yet been filed and have a priority date before September 1, 2018 can file their I-485 applications with the USCIS.

The EB-3 cutoff date for India will remain at August 1, 2012. This means that India EB-3 applicants whose I-485 applications have not yet been filed and have a priority date before August 1, 2012 can file their I-485 applications with the USCIS.

All other EB-3 priority date cutoffs remain current (C).

Other Workers

Other Worker cutoff dates will retrogress to February 1, 2020 for All Chargeability Areas; El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras; Mexico; and the Philippines. This means that Other Worker applicants from these areas whose I-485 applications have not yet been filed and have a priority date before February 1, 2022 can file their I-485 applications with the USCIS.

The Other Workers cutoff date for China will remain at November 1, 2015. This means that Other Worker applicants whose I-485 applications have not yet been filed and have a priority date before November 1, 2015 can file their I-485 applications with the USCIS.

The Other Workers cutoff date for India will advance to August 1, 2012. This means that India Other Worker applicants whose I-485 applications have not yet been filed and have a priority date before August 1, 2012 can file their I-485 applications with the USCIS.

SIGNIFICANT DEVELOPMENTS

The US Department of State has indicated that, due to higher-than-expected number use and demand, the current visa number backlog is anticipated to remain “to hold number use within the maximum allowed under the Fiscal Year 2023 annual limit.”

In addition, on February 14, 2022, the USCIS announced that it had updated its policy manual with respect to how the agency calculates the age of certain foreign nationals under the Child Status Protection Act of 2002 (CSPA). Specifically, this guidance clarifies when an immigrant visa number “becomes available,” which determines whether the dependent children of an immigrant worker age will be able to benefit from their parent’s immigrant visa petition.

In order for a child to obtain lawful permanent resident status in the United States based on their parent’s approved petition for a family-sponsored or employment-based visa, the child generally must be under the age of 21. If the child turns 21 and “ages out” during the immigration process, the child generally is no longer eligible to immigrate with the parent based on the parent’s petition.

Congress enacted the CSPA to protect certain noncitizen children from losing eligibility to obtain lawful permanent resident status based on an approved visa petition by providing a method to calculate the child’s age that considers when an immigrant visa number “becomes available.” Under the previous CSPA guidance, the USCIS considered a visa available for purposes of the CSPA age calculation based only on the Final Action Date chart, even if a noncitizen could apply for adjustment of status using the earlier date in the “Dates for Filing” chart.

The USCIS policy change became effective immediately and applies to pending applications. Therefore, some dependent children with a pending adjustment of status application may now have a CSPA age that is under 21 based on this change. For example, between October and December 2020, certain foreign nationals were permitted to file their adjustment of status applications under the Dates for Filing chart of the Visa Bulletin. However, the Final Action Date chart never advanced sufficiently for their applications to be approved. The foreign nationals filed their adjustment of status applications with the requisite fee for certain dependents without knowing whether the CSPA would benefit them.

Under this new guidance, the USCIS will now use the Dates for Filing chart to calculate these dependents’ ages for CSPA purposes, which provides them with more certainty about their eligibility to adjust status. If these dependent children are eligible to adjust status because of the change in policy and they have filed for adjustment of status, they will also be eligible to apply for employment and travel authorization based on their pending adjustment of status application, and they generally will not lose previously issued employment or travel authorization.