Posts tagged DOS
Registration for the Annual Green Card Lottery Opens October 2, 2019

The Department of State just announced that the online registration period for the  annual green card lottery will begin at 12 noon, Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) (GMT–4), Wednesday, October 2, 2019, and end at 12 noon, Eastern Standard Time (EST) (GMT–5), Tuesday, November 5, 2019. We recommend registering as soon as possible because the DOS website does slow down or freeze due to very heavy traffic towards the end of the registration period. 

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October 2019 Visa Bulletin Released

The Department of State (DOS) has issued its October 2019 Visa Bulletin.  October 1 marks the start of the new fiscal year so all the visa categories benefit from new visa numbers.  As a result, most categories see sizable movement.  Employment-based (“EB”) category 1 for all nationals (except for India and China) advances by six months.  EB-1 for China moves forward nearly three years and EB-1 India goes from unavailable to January 1, 2015. The EB-2 category for all nationals is now current, except for China, which, unfortunately, has a two-year retrogression, and India, which advances by four days. The EB-3 category is current for all nationals except for China, which moves forward nearly two years; India, which moves forward three and a half years, and the Philippines, which moves forward by fifteen months. 

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August 2019 Visa Bulletin Released

The Department of State (DOS) has issued its August 2019 Visa Bulletin. Overall, there was significant retrogression in most categories this month.  Employment-based category 1 (EB-1) for most nationals retrogressed by nearly two months, while for Chinese nationals it retrogressed by ten months, and there was no movement for Indian nationals.  For the employment-based category 2 (EB-2), most nationals retrogressed by nearly two and a half years, while Chinese nationals advanced by two months, and Indian nationals advanced by only eight days. Lastly, the employment-based category 3 (EB-3) for most nationals retrogressed by nearly three years; Indian nationals retrogressed by three years and six months, but Chinese nationals moved forward by six months.

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July 2019 Visa Bulletin Released

The Department of State (DOS) has issued its July 2019 Visa Bulletin. Overall, there was little movement in most categories this month.  For the EB-1 category, Chinese nationals advanced by 75 days while there was no advancement for EB-1 Worldwide and Indian nationals. For the EB-2 category, Chinese nationals advanced by three months while Indian nationals advanced by only five days. Lastly, EB-3 for Chinese nationals moved forward by three months and 17 days, while Indian nationals did not advance, and Philippine nationals are now current.


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July 2018 Visa Bulletin Released

The Department of State (DOS) has issued its July 2018 Visa Bulletin.  Most notably, the Employment-Based (“EB”)-3 category for Chinese nationals retrogressed dramatically by two years and five months to January 1, 2013.  EB-2 for Chinese and Indian nationals, and EB-3 for Indian nationals made significant advances while EB-1 for Chinese and Indian nationals and EB-3 for Philippine nationals had no movement.

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April 2018 Visa Bulletin Released

The Department of State (DOS) has released the April 2018 Visa Bulletin.  Most notably, the Employment-Based (“EB”)-1 category for Indian and Chinese nationals retrogresses dramatically from current to January 1, 2012.  EB-2 and EB-3 for Chinese nationals, and EB-3 for Indian and Filipino nationals make significant advances while EB-2 for Indians holds steady.

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