When to File Your Adjustment of Status Application for Family- Sponsored or Employment-Based Preference Visas: November 2017

Transcription

1 10/19/2017 When to File Your Adjustment of Status Appliation for Family-Sponsored or Employment-Based Preferene Visas: November 2017 USIS U.S. itizenship and Immigration Servies When to File Your Adjustment of Status Appliation for Family- Sponsored or Employment-Based Preferene Visas: November 2017 Are you seeking to adjust your status and beome a U.S. permanent resident under a family-sponsored or employment-based preferene immigrant visa? If you have not yet had a relative or employer file an immigrant visa petition on your behalf, please learn more about the Adjustment of Status Filing Proess. If you already have a petition filed or approved on your behalf, you may have to wait for an available visa in your ategory (if appliable) before you an file vour Form Appliation to Register Permanent Residene or Adjust Status. This page will help you determine when to file your adjustment of status appliation. Find on this page: When to File About the Visa Bulletin New Visa Bulletin harts Determining Visa Availability when to File Use the Visa Bulletin harts below to determine when to file your adjustment of status appliation. To use the harts: 1. Find your visa type in the first olumn (on the left) of the appropriate hart (Family-sponsored or Employment-based). 2. Stay in that row and move diretly to the right to find the orresponding date under the ountry of your birth (as listed in the boldfae olumns aross the top). 3. If the date on the hart is urrent ("") or your priority date is earlier than the date on the hart, you may file your adjustment of status appliation, if otherwise eligible to do so. Your priority date is generally the date when your relative or employer properly filed the immigrant visa petition on your behalf with USIS. If a labor ertifiation is required to be filed with your immigrant visa petition, the priority date is the date the labor ertifiation appliation was aepted for proessing by the Department of Labor. November 2017 Dates for Filing Family-Sponsored Adjustment of Status Appliations:

2 10/19/2017 When to File Your Adjustment of Status Appliation for Family-Sponsored or Employment-Based Preferene Visas: November 2017 USIS Family- Sponsored All hargeability Areas Exept Those Listed HINAmainland born INDIA MEXIO PHILIPPINES Fl 01JAN12 01JAN12 01JAN12 01NOV96 01OT07 F2A F2B 01SEP11 01SEP11 01SEP11 01JAN97 01SEP07 F3 01DE05 01DE05 01DE05 01OT95 15JUN95 F4 1SNOV04 15NOV04 22JUN04 08FEB9S 01MAR95 Final Ation Dates for Employment-Based Adjustment of Status Appliations: Employment- Based All hargeability Areas Exept Those Listed HINAmainland born El SALVADOR GUATEMALA HONDURAS INDIA MEXIO PHILIPPINES 1st 2nd 15JUN13 08OT08 3rd 01FEB14 15OT06 15JAN16 Other Workers 01APR06 15OT06 15JAN16 4th 01NOV15 01APR16 ertain Religious Workers 01NOV15 01APR16

3 10/19/2017 When to File Your Adjustment of Status Appliation for Family-Sponsored or Employment-Based Preferene Visas: November 2017 USIS El All HINA- Employment- hargeability.,, SALVADOR,.,,...,. 1,u ll.1,,.. r,. A I main and _,,,-,.«,. INDIA MEXIO PHILIPPINES Based Areas Exept. GUATEMALA Those Listed HONDURAS 5th Non-Regional enter (5 and T5) 01JUL14 5th Regional enter (!5andR5) 01JUL14

4 10/19/2017 When to File Your Adjustment of Status Appliation for Family-Sponsored or Employment-Based Preferene Visas: November 2017 USIS Adjusting Status to beome a U.S. permanent resident? f«1 1 Your relative or employer files an immigrant petition for you. K.V Visas for immediate relative petitions (spouses of U.S. itizens, unmarried hildren under 21 of U.S. itizens, parents of U.S. itizens) are unlimited and always available. You may file your Form at the same time your U.S. itizen relative (lies a Form Determine your petition type: D. Visas for family-sponsored and employment-based preferene petitions are limited. You will need to onsult the U.S. Department of State (DOS, Visa Bulletin to see if you an file you r Form In order to use the Visa Bulletin, you will need to know your priority date. I This is the date your relative or employer filed an immigrant petition on your behalf. 3. What's my priority Date? / / The date the Department of Labor aepts a labor ertifiation for proessing (when appliable). A Rod your visa type In the first olumn (on the left) of the appropriate hart (Family-sponsored, Employment-based, or Diversity visa). Find out if you an file your 1-485: hek usis.gov/visabulletininfo It will explain whether you should use the Appliation Final Ation Dates hart or Dates for Filing Visa Appliations ha rt to determine when you an file. To use the harts: 2.M Stay in that row and move diretly to the right to find die orresponding date under the ountry of your birth (as listed in the boldfae olumns aross the top). II the dale on the hart Is urrent ("") or your priority dale is earlier than the date on the hart, you may file your adjustment d statu* appliation, If otherwise eligible to do so. US. itizenship and Immigration Servies About the Visa Bulletin DOS publishes urrent immigrant visa availability information in a monthly Visa Bulletin. The Visa Bulletin indiates when statutorily limited visas are available for issuane to prospetive immigrants based on their individual priority date. On Nov. 20,2014, the Seretary of Homeland Seurity direted USIS to work with DOS to:

5 10/19/2017 When to File Your Adjustment of Status Appliation for Family-Sponsored or Employment-Based Preferene Visas: November 2017 USIS Ensure that all immigrant visas authorized by ongress are issued to eligible individuals when there is suffiient demand for suh visas, and Improve the Visa Bulletin system for determining when immigrant visas are available to appliants during the fisal year. Additionally, in July 2015, the Administration issued its report on Modernizing and Streamlining Our Legal Immigration System for the 21st entury (PDF). This report inluded detailed reommendations to revise and update the monthly Visa Bulletin to better estimate immigrant visa availability and provide needed preditability to nonimmigrant workers seeking permanent resideny. USIS, in oordination with DOS, revised the proedures for determining visa availability for appliants waiting to file for adjustment of status. The revised proess will better align with proedures DOS uses for foreign nationals who seek to beome U.S. permanent residents by applying for immigrant visas at U.S. onsulates and embassies abroad. This revised proess will enhane DOS's ability to more aurately predit overall immigrant visa demand in determining the ut-off dates for the Visa Bulletin. This will help ensure that the maximum number of immigrant visas are issued annually as intended by ongress, and minimize month-to-month flutuations in Visa Bulletin final ation dates. Additional goals are outlined in the White House report, Modernizing and Streamlining Our Legal Immigration System for the 21st entury (PDF). New Visa Bulletin harts Bak to top The Visa Bulletin will now have two different harts beause of the revised proedures. DOS will post two harts per visa preferene ategory in the DOS Visa Bulletin. The harts are: Appliation Final Ation Dates (dates when visas may finally be issued); and Dates for Filing Appliations (earliest dates when appliants may be able to apply). When USIS determines there are immigrant visas available for the filing of additional adjustment of status appliations, the Dates for Filing Appliations hart may be used to determine when to file an adjustment of status appliation with USIS. Otherwise, the Appliation Final Ation Dates hart must be used to determine when to file an adjustment of status appliation with USIS. In oordination with the DOS, USIS will monitor visa numbers eah month and post the relevant hart on this page under When to File. Determining Visa Availability Bak to top USIS onsiders several fators to determine if there is a greater supply of visas than the demand for those visas. To determine visa availability, USIS will ompare the number of visas available for the remainder of the fisal year with: Doumentarily qualified visa appliations reported by DOS; Pending adjustment of status appliations reported by USIS; and Historial drop off rate of appliants for adjustment of status (for example, denials, withdrawals and abandonments) Bak to Top 5/t

6 10/19/2017 When to File Your Adjustment of Status Appliation for Family-Sponsored or Employment-Based Preferene Visas: November 2017 USIS Last Reviewed/Updated: 10/13/2017