Visa Bulletin Update: EB-3 for Phillipines Unavailable in July

Last month when the U.S. Department of State issued its Visa Bulletin for June 2015, EB-3 for individuals born in the Philippines had retrogressed again. Charlie Oppenheim had indicated that there could be a third retrogression to “zero out” the use of the visas but what has happened is that the visas have become completely unavailable as of July 1st. Mr. Oppenheim had reported that the use of more than 2,000 visa numbers during a two month period was unexpected based on past USCIS demand and given the July Visa Bulletin, demand didn’t slow down.

This retrogression and unavailability will impact the permanent resident process for those qualifying as Nurses tremendously for the next few months. Depending on demand for the EB-2 category, some visa numbers may become available for the Philippines in September. If not, the EB-3 category for the Philippines will become available again beginning October 1, 2015 which is the beginning of the next fiscal year.

Please contact your Maggio Kattar attorney for further information.