September 2024 Visa Bulletin Released

The Department of State released the September  2024 Visa Bulletin. USCIS will continue to accept employment-based Adjustment of Status applications based on the Final Action Dates chart. Most Employment-Based Categories will remain unchanged under Final Action Dates for September with further retrogression observed for EB-3 Professional, Skilled Worker and Other Workers for most countries, as detailed below.

Employment-Based (EB) Priority Date Summary for Final Action Dates

USCIS confirmed that it will honor the Final Action Dates chart for purposes of eligibility to file an Adjustment of Status application. The Final Action Dates  are as follows:

EB-1, First Preference Category

• EB-1 Worldwide (including El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, Mexico, and Philippines) remains current.
• EB-1 China and India will hold steady with a Final Action Date cutoff of November 1, 2022 and February 1, 2022, respectively.   

EB-2, Second Preference Category

• EB-2 Worldwide (including El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, Mexico, and Philippines) will remain at March 15, 2023.
• China: Final Action Date will maintain a cutoff date of March 1, 2020.
• India:  Final Action will hold steady at July 15, 2012.

EB-3, Third Preference Category (Professional and Skilled Workers)

• EB-3 Worldwide (including El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, Mexico and Philippines) will retrogress by approximately one year to December 1, 2020.
• China: Final Action Date will remain at September 1, 2020.
• India: Final Action Date will hold steady at October 22, 2012.

Other Workers

• Other Workers will retrogress by one month to December 1, 2020, for all countries except China, India and Philippines which will hold steady from last month:
  • India will remain at October 22, 2012.
  • Philippines will hold steady at May 1, 2020.
  • China will hold steady at January 1, 2017.

EB-5, Fifth Preference Category (Immigrant Investors)

• For the EB-5 Unreserved categories (C5, T5, I5, and R5), India and China maintain a cut-off date of December 1, 2020 and December 15, 2015, respectively. All other countries will remain current.
• The EB-5 “Set-Aside” categories (Rural, High Unemployment, and Infrastructure) will remain current.

Individuals with a priority date that is before the published cut-off date may file an Adjustment of Status application based on the dates outlined above.

What Should Employers Expect?

As predicted in the July Visa Bulletin, further retrogression in the EB-3 Worldwide category was implemented in the September Visa Bulletin. However, the Dept. of State anticipates that the Final Action Dates for EB-3 Professional, Skilled Worker and Other Workers will advance in October 2024 with date movement dependent on worldwide demand and the estimated FY 2025 category limit. Due to a steady increase for employment-based visas during the fiscal year, the Dept. of State notes that numerical limits to most employment-based preference categories for FY 2024 are expected to be reached during September, if not sooner. Accordingly, Employers should file Adjustment of Status applications for eligible applicants as soon as possible as most employment-based categories are expected to reach their numerical limits in the near future.

For additional information, please contact your designated Gibney representative or email info@gibney.com.