The Department of State has released the October 2020 Visa Bulletin. D&S provides a Monthly Summary of the employment-based priority dates. As of today, September 24, 2020, USCIS has not yet advised whether, in October 2020, it will once again accept adjustment of status applications for employment-based petitions based on the bulletin’s Final Action Dates, as it has in recent months.
With respect to Employment Based (EB) Final Action Dates, all EB-1 countries of chargeability, except India and China, will remain current. EB-1 China and EB-1 India will advance three months to June 1, 2018. With the exception of India and China, all other EB-2 countries of chargeability remain current. EB-2 China will advance one and a half months to March 1, 2016 and EB-2 India will advance just under two months to September 1, 2009, respectively. All EB-3 categories except India and China will become current. EB-3 China will advance four and a half months to July 1, 2017, and EB-3 India will advance three and a half months to January 15, 2010.
As the EB-5 Regional Center program is set to sunset on September 30, 2020, the category will be unavailable in October pending reauthorization of the program by Congress. Should the program be reauthorized for FY2021, final action dates would immediately become current for October for all countries of chargeability except for China, which would be subject to an August 15, 2015 final action date and Vietnam which would be subject to an August 1, 2017 final action date. Final action dates for the EB-5 Non-Regional Center program, which will not be affected, remain current for all countries of chargeability except China and Vietnam, which will remain unchanged at August 15, 2015 and August 1, 2017 respectively.
With regards to Employment Based Application Filing Dates, all EB-1 countries of chargeability, except India and China, will remain current. EB-1 China and EB-1 India will advance by over two years to September 1, 2020. With the exception of India and China, all other EB-2 countries of chargeability remain current. EB-2 China will advance two months to October 1, 2016, and EB-2 India will advance almost two years to May 15, 2011. All EB-3 categories except India and China will become current. EB-3 China will advance thirteen months to June 1, 2018, and EB-3 India will advance just under five years to January 1, 2015. EB-5 dates will remain unchanged from the September 2020 visa bulletin.
As part of the October visa bulletin, the Department of State includes projections for final action date movement through the month of January. We include these projections below, noting that the actual determination of final action dates is subject to change based on applicant demand.
EB-1:
Worldwide: expected to remain current
China: rapid forward movement projected
India: rapid forward movement projected
EB-2
Worldwide: expected to remain current
China: rapid forward movement projected
India: rapid forward movement projected
EB-3:
Worldwide: expected to remain current
China: rapid forward movement projected
India: rapid forward movement projected
Philippines: likely to remain at the Worldwide date (current)
EB-5:
Worldwide: expected to remain current
China: no forward movement projected
Vietnam: limited forward movement projected