EB-1 India Retrogresses in August Visa Bulletin

The Department of State (DOS) released its August 2023 Visa Bulletin yesterday.  In an interesting, but very disappointing, development, EB-1 India retrogressed by close to 10 years to January 1, 2012.  This is a result of porting old EB-2 and EB-3 priority dates to EB-1.  However, there’s hope that the October Visa Bulletin will bring some relief.

The DOS notes in the Visa Bulletin state the following:

It has become necessary to retrogress the EB-1 final action date for India, effective in August.  India is oversubscribed, and therefore subject to prorating under INA 202(e).  Until now, applicants chargeable to India had been able to receive prior unused numbers within EB-1 under INA 202(a)(5).  With a worldwide final action date being set for EB-1 because the demand is greater than the number of visas remaining, the Department can no longer issue EB-1 visas without regard to the per-country numerical limitations and so applicants from India are no longer able to receive EB-1 numbers under INA 202(a)(5).  Having reached their limit for FY-2023 within EB-1, India will be subject to an EB-1 final action date of 01JAN12, the oldest priority date of an EB-1 applicant (many Indian EB-1 applicants have priority dates from 2012-2015 because of priority date retention based on previously-approved petitions in the EB-2 or EB-3 categories).  It is likely that in October the final action date will advance to at least the final action date announced in the July Visa Bulletin; however, the date is dependent on the demand for EB-1 visas by Indian applicants and the FY-2024 annual limit on employment-based preference visas.

We encourage those who qualify for EB-1 to continue filing those applications.  The Visa Bulletin dates change constantly, so focus on the case first.

We will keep you posted at www.bashyamglobal.com.  Contact us if you have any questions about the Visa Bulletin.