October Visa Bulletin Revised: New EB-2 India and China Filing Dates Retrogress

By William L. Coffman

It’s September 25th, not April 1st! Like a cruel April Fool’s joke, the October Visa Bulletin has just been revised and the new India & China EB-2 filing dates have retrogressed. The instructions in bold type in the new bulletin indicate that this revised bulletin is to be used to determine who is eligible to file on October 1st.

Something similar to this happened in 2007 when the Department of State and Department of Homeland Security got in what may be best described as a spat over advancing visa bulletin numbers. In 2007, the government gave in and ended up allowing filings based on the previous bulletin.

These government agencies will be harshly criticized for releasing a revised visa bulletin only days before the October 1st planned filing date under the initial bulletin issued on September 9th. We are waiting to see if anything changes early next week.

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    William L. Coffman

    Special Counsel

    William L. Coffman focuses on immigration and nationality law at Mintz. He represents clients on immigration matters before the US Citizenship and Immigration Services, the Department of Labor, and US and foreign consulates.