US Department of State issued the visa bulletin for April 2020. This bulletin summarizes the availability of immigrant numbers during April for: “Final Action Dates” and “Dates for Filing Applications,” indicating when immigrant visa applicants should be notified to assemble and submit required documentation to the National Visa Center.
For Family-Sponsored Filings:
In the F2A category, there is a cutoff date on the Dates for Filing chart. However, the category is “current” on the Final Action Dates chart. This means that applicants in the F2A category may file using the Final Action Dates chart for April 2020.
For all the other family-sponsored preference categories, you must use the Dates for Filing chart in the Department of State Visa Bulletin for April 2020.
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 April 2020.
This is the first month of the fiscal year where employment-based filings will have to refer to the Final Action Dates chart. With this change, EB-1 All Charge-ability, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, and the Philippines are no longer current. There has been more movement this month for priority dates within the family-based visa category when compared to the employment-based visa category, with employment-based effectively retrogressing.