The March, 2008 Department of State Visa Bulletin – Some Improvement for China, India and the Philippines
The State Department has issued the Visa Bulletin for March 2008 and there is some good news for EB3 in the worldwide category, meaning all countries of chargeability other than China, India, Mexico, and the Philippines. Even for these specifically listed countries, there is at least some forward movement in the cutoff dates for EB3 categories.
For China, in the EB2 category there was some forward movement; unfortunately, the EB2 India category continues to be unavailable.
All categories that were previously current are still current.
Here are the specifics:
The EB1 (employment-based first preference) category remains current for all countries of chargeability.
The EB2 (employment-based second preference category) is still current for worldwide, Mexico, and the Philippines and the cutoff date for China moved forward by 11 months, to December 1, 2003. Visa numbers for EB2, India, continue to be unavailable.
The EB3 (employment-based third preference) worldwide category and for the Philippines moved forward significantly to January 1, 2005, an advance of more than two years. China moved forward by more than a year, to December 1, 2002 and India moved forward to August 1, 2001, an improvement of several months. Even Mexico improved, but only by several days to May 1, 2001. The EB3 cutoff date for workers from all countries of chargeability is now January 1, 2002.
Finally, the EB4, EB5, religious workers, and the targeted employment categories are all current.
