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The Department of State has just issued the December 2020 Visa Bulletin. This is the third Visa Bulletin of Fiscal Year 2021. This blog post analyzes this month's Visa Bulletin.
December 2020 Visa Bulletin
Table A: Final Action Dates -- Applications with these dates may be approved for their Green Card (Permanent Residency card) or Immigrant Visa appointment.
| Employment- based |
All Other | CHINA | INDIA | PHILIPPINES |
| 1st | C | 01APR19 | 01APR19 | C |
| 2nd | C | 01MAY16 | 01OCT09 | C |
| 3rd | C | 01NOV17 | 15MAR10 | C |
Table B: Dates of Filing
The USCIS again announced that it will allow the more favorable Date of Filing chart for I-485 Adjustment of Status. This means that all employment-based immigrants in EB-1, EB-2 or EB-3 can file their I-485s. However, if they are natives of India or China, their priority date must be earlier than these dates:
| Employment Based | CHINA-mainland | INDIA |
| 1st | 01NOV20 | 01NOV20 |
| 2nd | 01OCT16 | 15MAY11 |
| 3rd | 01JUN18 | 01JAN15 |
MU Law Analysis
Unlike last month, the DOS issued a timely Visa Bulletin for December.
Both the Philippines and Worldwide (All Other) EB-3 continue to be current. We expect these categories to stay current for the foreseeable future. The only constraint to the Philippine EB-3 visas being issued is the capacity at the Embassy in Manila. It remains to be seen how increasing COVID infection rates bear on embassies capacities.
India had another month defined by variance. India EB-1 moved ahead six months. India EB-2 and EB-3 each moved ahead by about 1-2 weeks. The interesting news was that the Dates of Filing for India EB-3 retrogressed by a year, reflecting the fact that an enormous number of India EB-3 I-485s have been filed in October and November. This retrogression probably means that no further material progress will happen in India EB-3 for a long time.
China EB-2 and EB-3 both moved forward by a few weeks, a trend that may continue. China EB-1 showed more progress than expected, perhaps because of declining rates of visa issuance out of the American posts in China.
MU expects that future Visa Bulletins will continue to have positive news, including slow but continued forward progression in the Chinese and Indian categories. We also expect the Philippine and Worldwide categories will remain current for the foreseeable future.
