Early July End to EB “C” Status: Rumor or True?

There is a rumor buzzing in the Immigration world that the “Current” status granted to EB categories in the July 2007 Visa bulletin may be shorter lived then predicted. Officially, there has been no such indication so far and the Bulletin itself indicated a time frame till September 2007. Meanwhile, we will be monitoring the immigration updates and bulletins and will report any change soon as we hear them.

Rumors of EB Numbers Fueling Speculation

The basis of these rumors lie on unconfirmed reports that as of May 2007 the State Deportment has been able to allocated only 50% of the total annual quota of 140000 for the EB categories and has pushed for the EB “Current” status only to allocate the remaining 70,000 EB visa numbers before the end of fiscal year i.e. September 2007.

The rumors indicate that these numbers will be gone as soon as the visa bulletin comes into effect, repeating an H1B like performance, and USCIS will then start rejecting applications.

Our Tip: Apply As Soon As Possible; The Rest Is Out Of Your Hand

Under the circumstances, whether the window of opportunity is cur off short or not, people should make it sure that their cases are filed as quickly as possible in July. Double and triple check your paper work, or ask your attorney to do so, but make sure your application is not rejected due to it. If the rush is of application are as heavy as expected, notification of rejections may takes months to come and the categories might retrogress by then. We expect that the forthcoming retrogression will be quite severe, and getting rejected might mean an impossibly long wait.

Also, our legal consultants also suggest a prudent use of I-140 approvals. For example, if the applicant has applied for or have approved 140s under both EB-2 and EB-3 categories, it will be smarter to apply with I-140 applied under EB2 category for now. In case your application is rejected, the EB-3 petition can come handy even during future retrogression. Also remember EB-3 Other Worker numbers will become available from the next fiscal year.

Download the The Immitips I-485 Survival Kit: A Guide for Applicants prepared just for this occasion