Visa Bulletin August 2022

The U.S. Department of State has updated its Visa Bulletin for August 2022. The visa bulletin is important if you are seeking to adjust your status and become a U.S. permanent resident under a family-sponsored or employment-based preference immigrant visa. In other words, even if you already have a petition filed or approved on your behalf, you may have to wait for an available visa in your category (if applicable) before you can file your Form I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status. In order to determine when you can file your adjustment of status, you must understand your filing date, your preference category and whether you filed an employment or family-based petition. We have broken down the process below.

For Family-Sponsored Filings:

For all family-sponsored preference categories, you must use the Dates for Filing chart in the Department of State Visa Bulletin for August 2022.

For Employment-Based Preference Filings:

For all employment-based preference categories, you must use the Final Action Dates chart in the Department of State Visa Bulletin for August 2022.

When to File Your Adjustment of Status Application for Family-Sponsored or Employment-Based Preference Visas: August 2022

When to File

Use the Visa Bulletin charts to determine when to file your adjustment of status application.

To use the chart:

1. Find your visa type in the first column (on the left) of the appropriate chart (Family-sponsored or Employment-based).
2. Stay in that row and move directly to the right to find the corresponding date under the country of your birth (as listed in the boldface columns across the top).
3. If the date on the chart is current (“C”), or your priority date is earlier than the date on the chart, you may file your adjustment of status application, if otherwise eligible to do so.
4. “U” means unauthorized; for example, numbers are not authorized for issuance.

Your priority date is generally the date when your relative or employer properly filed the immigrant visa petition on your behalf with USCIS. If a labor certification is required to be filed with your immigrant visa petition, the priority date is the date the labor certification application was accepted for processing by the Department of Labor.

For Family-Based petitions, the categories are divided as follows:

If you are the spouse, minor child or parent of a U.S. citizen, you are considered an “Immediate Relative,” and you can become a lawful permanent resident (get a Green Card) based on your family relationship if you meet certain eligibility requirements.

You are an immediate relative if you are:

• The spouse of a U.S. citizen;
• The unmarried child under 21 years of age of a U.S. citizen; or
• The parent of a U.S. citizen (if the U.S. citizen is 21 years of age or older).

USCIS also considers “other family members” to be eligible to apply for a Green Card if they are in the following family “preference immigrant” categories:

• First preference (F1) – unmarried sons and daughters (21 years of age and older) of U.S. citizens;
• Second preference (F2A) – spouses and children (unmarried and under 21 years of age) of lawful permanent residents;
• Second preference (F2B) – unmarried sons and daughters (21 years of age and older) of lawful permanent residents;
• Third preference (F3) – married sons and daughters of U.S. citizens; and
• Fourth preference (F4) – brothers and sisters of U.S. citizens (if the U.S. citizen is 21 years of age and older).

When reviewing the visa bulletin for August 2022, it is surprising that the F2A second preference category (spouses and children of permanent residents) are now current, with a severe backlog for unmarried son and daughters 21 years old and over under the F1 preference category. Historically, this has been the opposite.

Looking at the Employment-Based petitions, the preference immigrant categories are divided as follows:

• First:  Priority Workers:  28.6% of the worldwide employment-based preference level, plus any numbers not required for fourth and fifth preferences.
• Second:  Members of the Professions Holding Advanced Degrees or Persons of Exceptional Ability:  28.6% of the worldwide employment-based preference level, plus any numbers not required by first preference.
• Third:  Skilled Workers, Professionals, and Other Workers:  28.6% of the worldwide level, plus any numbers not required by first and second preferences, not more than 10,000 of which to “*Other Workers”.
• Fourth:  Certain Special Immigrants:  7.1% of the worldwide level.
• Fifth:  Employment Creation:  7.1% of the worldwide level, not less than 3,000 of which reserved for investors in a targeted rural or high-unemployment area, and 3,000 set aside for investors in regional centers by Sec. 610 of Pub. L. 102-395.

Many Employment-Based Categories are now “current” which means that immediate I-485 adjustment of status filing may occur. The EB-1 preference category is current across the board for all countries. For EB-2, only China and India are “retrogressed”. Even Mexico and the Philippines are now currently under the EB-2 category.

Looking at 2022, USCIS made significant progress in the EB-1 and EB-2 categories, with the potential to speed up the other categories as well.

If your priority date is “current” and you are ready to file your I-485 adjustment of status, please contact us for your next steps.