EB-2 limit is reached for fiscal year 2012

I am sorry to say that the annual limit for employment second-preference green cards (that is, "EB-2 green cards") has been reached.  Anyone with a priority date that is later than the latest cutoff date of August 15, 2007 will have to wait at least until October 1, 2012 to see when their visas might become available. October 1 is the beginning of a new fiscal year for the U.S. government (i.e. fiscal year 2013), and therefore (by the way) it is also the date that new H-1B approvals become available for cap-subject employees.

The May 2012 visa bulletin lists the August 15, 2007 cutoff date for employment second-preference petitions for people born in China, among several other countries.  Because the limit has been reached, future visa bulletins until the end of the fiscal year will continue to show that same date, i.e. there will be no forward progression of cutoff dates as was the case recently.

This situation applies to those seeking a green card as an advanced degree professional, an alien of exceptional ability or who are petitioning for a waiver from job offer on the grounds that their job benefits the national interest (i.e. a national interest waiver), who also were born in China.  The names of countries in the visa bulletin refer to country of BIRTH, not country of citizenship.

This situation stinks, and I feel badly, because I know that those you in this position might have been waiting a long time for your visas to become available.  I hope the situation will improve soon.

Here is a news item from the web site of American Immigration Lawyers Association, AILA:

China-Mainland Born and India EB-2 FY2012 Annual Limit Reached

Cite as "AILA InfoNet Doc. No. 12042360 (posted Apr. 23, 2012)"

AILA has confirmed with the State Department that the annual limit in the EB-2 category for China-mainland born and India has been reached. The State Department notified USCIS on April 11, 2012, that no further visas for those categories would be authorized. This is the “additional corrective action” that was forecast as a possibility in Section D of the May 2012 Visa Bulletin (AILA Doc. No. 12040652). USCIS will continue to accept adjustment applications based upon cut-off dates published in the April and May Visa Bulletins. However, requests from USCIS service centers and field offices for visas in the EB-2 category aliens chargeable to China-mainland born or India will be retained by DOS for authorization in FY2013, beginning on October 1, 2012.

重要的绿卡信息：visa bulletin for October 2011

大家好，

The visa bulletin, of the U.S. Department of State 美国国务院, determines when you are able to receive your green card. This bulletin is issued each month. The bulletin for October 2011 is here: http://www.travel.state.gov/visa/bulletin/bulletin_5560.html

The visa bulletin for a particular month tells you, for each "preference category" of green card, who is able to receive their green cards that month. I will give you the major employment preference categories for China, then explain the information to you.

The relevant "cutoff dates" for China, from the October 2011 bulletin, for the main employment preference categories, are as follows:

Employment first preference (EB-1): current

Employment second preference (EB-2): July 15, 2007

Employment third preference (EB-3): August 8, 2004

I will explain these dates to you. Lol when I was in law school, and took a class on business immigration, I myself did not immediately understand it.

Anyone from China who files a green card petition in the EB-1 category need not wait for a visa, because there is no backlog, 就是，没有移民签证、绿卡的积压. That is, there is not a large stack of petitions from years ago waiting to be processed. As soon as you file, a visa is available for you. For this reason, the bulletin says, instead of date, the word "current."

Anyone from China who files a petition in the EB-2 category most likely will have to wait to get a visa, because there IS a backlog. In fact, the backlog is such that in October 2011, the only people who can get EB-2 green cards are those with a priority date of July 15, 2007 or earlier. The date that is listed in the bulletin is the "cutoff date" for that particular preference. In other words, the only people in a preference category, from a given area who can get a green card are those people with a priority date that is the same as the cutoff date, or earlier than the cutoff date.

Anyone from China who files a petition in the EB-3 category also most likely will have to wait. In October 2011, the only people who can get EB-3 green cards are those with a priority date of August 8, 2004 or earlier. In other words, the EB-3 cutoff date for the October 2011 bulletin is August 8, 2004.

To see this information and these dates for yourself, go to the web page above. Then scroll down until you see the section labeled "employment-based preferences." Then scroll down further until you see the table of dates. The dates for China are in the third column from the left.

I hope this information helps you. I am sorry that the visas can take so long, and that the process is so slow.

Calvin Sun, attorney at law
1776 East Lancaster Ave. #306
Paoli, PA 19301
610-296-3947
Pr. 17:15
csun@calvinsun.com
www.avvo.com/attorneys/19301-pa-calvin-sun-1935383.html?ref=header