October 2014 Visa Bulletin Analysis

For October 2014 Visa Bulletin, please click here: http://blog.mygcvisa.com/2014/09/october-2014-visa-bulletin.html

Please see below analysis of October 2014 Visa Bulletin:

EB1: All EB1 categories are current and should continue to remain current for fiscal year. Demand continues to be around 1200-1400 every month (per the latest pending inventory).

EB2 ROW: This category continues to remain current. Demand in EB2ROW continues to be very low at an average of around 300-600 per month. 

EB2 China: As expected, EB2 China moved forward by 5 weeks in this visa bulletin. It is likely to continue to move forward around 3 to 5 weeks per month.

EB2 India: Also as expected, EB2 India category did not move forward in this visa bulletin. We had earlier posted a blog post that according to Charles Oppenheim, EB2 India quota has been used up for fiscal year 2014. This means no new visas will be allocated to EB2 India between September 10 and September 30, 2014.

We have added a blog post exclusive to EB2 India movement in fiscal year 2014. As many of you expected, DOS has predicted retrogression in November due to large demand from (a) applicants porting from EB3 India to EB2 India  (since they have been waiting in EB3 India category for more than a decade) and (b) applicants who are filing I-485 for the first time.

Also please see this blog post for updates in EB2 (India, ROW and China) category.

EB3 ROW: EB3 ROW had a big jump in this visa bulletin. It moved forward by 6 months, after retrogressing by 1.5 years in the July visa bulletin. Due to previous low demand, this category had moved forward by more than few years. This resulted in them receiving enough applications to meet the quota for 2014.

EB3 China: EB3 China also had a big jump in this visa bulletin. It moved forward by 5 months. In  August 2014 visa bulletin, it had the biggest jump and moved forward by more than 2 years.

EB3 China Other workers category did not move forward.

EB3 Mexico: Similar to EB3 ROW category, EB3 Mexico category also moved forward by 6 months.

Dates for EB3 Mexico should continue to be same as EB3 ROW.

EB3 India: EB3 India category finally moved forward by 1 week. Due to high demand, this category is expected to move forward by one week in the next visa bulletin. The good news is that many applicants would be porting from EB3 India to EB2 India.

Hence the demand in EB3 India will decrease which will result in dates moving forward at faster speed. Currently USCIS cannot count identify porters to EB2 and hence they are calculated twice resulting in increase demand.

EB3 Philippines: EB3 Philippines had another big jump. This category moved forward by 6 months. This category is likely to continue to move forward in the next few months, and dates are expected to remain the same as the EB3ROW and EB3 Mexico categories.

Please see this blog post for future updates in EB3 categories.

EB4: This category continues to remain current.

EB5: This category continues to remain current.

Demand in EB4 and EB5 is currently very low per the latest I-485 pending inventory. Hence EB2 category (especially EB2 India) can expect a bigger spillover in FY 2015.

Family Categories:

F1 Category: F1 Philippines category moved forward by just 4 weeks. F1 ROW/China and India moved forward by 3 weeks. F1 Mexico also moved forward by 3 weeks.

F2A Category: As expected, there was another forward movement in this category.  F2A Mexico moved forward by 3 months. All other countries moved forward by 1 month. Please see article for more details for FB categories.

F2B Category: F2B ROW, China and India moved forward by 8 weeks. F2B Mexico moved forward by 10 weeks and F2B Philippines categories moved forward by 2 weeks.

F3 Category: F3 ROW, China and India moved forward by 2 weeks. Philippines moved forward by 1 week. Mexico category also moved forward by 1 week.

F4 Category: F4 ROW, China and India also moved forward by 3 weeks. Philippines moved forward by 3 weeks.. Mexico category moved forward by 1 week.

If you have not done it yet, please remember to add your case data to GC tracker: http://www.mygcvisa.com/ tracker/

If your application has been sent to NVC, please see this blog post.

Tip: Charles Oppenheim creates and publishes the monthly visa bulletin. He works at Department of State (DOS) and is the Chief of "Visa Control and Reporting Division".


Also See:

• June 2014 Demand Data: http://blog.mygcvisa.com/2014/05/june-2014-demand-data.html

• September 2014 Visa Bulletin: http://blog.mygcvisa.com/2014/08/september-2014-visa-bulletin.html

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