So we're almost coming to the end of the fiscal year. In this video we're going to talk about
September 2021 visa bulletin predictions, and beyond. This is based on a live update provided
by the State Department, specifically by Charlie Oppenheim, the chief of the immigrant visa control
unit. So we'll break down all the updates and all the information that you need to know will
provide details regarding what to expect in terms of visa movement, or retrogression,
both in the family visa categories and the employment base as we move towards the end
of the fiscal year, September 2021. So what are you waiting for? I'll see you on the other side.
Hello, everybody. Welcome back to our immigration channel. This is the place where you can get the
most up to date, immigration news, immigration updates, and everything else that you need to know
to make your immigration journey less stressful. My name is Jacob Sapochnik,
and I'm an immigration attorney located in San Diego, California. I help clients
in all 50 states. If you ever need to get a hold of me, got my number right here 619-483-4549.
We're here to support you. In this video, we're going to provide the most up-to-date information
for visa movement and all retrogression in the next coming months. As we are moving towards
the end of the year, September 2021. This is based on a live update provided by the Chief
of the visa control unit, Charlie Oppenheim, he is the one that is controlling the visa bulletin
every single month. And he provided some very important insights that I'm going to be breaking
down in this video. So make sure you stick to the end, because we're going to cover employee base,
we're going to cover the family-based, we're going to cover the prospects of retrogression,
and a lot of things that you need to know because many of you are anxious,
you're waiting for your interviews. And I think that information is crucial every single month. So
let's jump right in. So we're going to cover some of the main questions that were presented at that
live podcast, specifically those questions that are important with respect to visa wait times,
possible retrogression, and employment and family-based category. So let's move on to the
first question. I submitted all my documentation to the NVC a long time ago, and I confirmed
on their website that everything is completed correctly. My priority became eligible in March.
But I have not yet been scheduled for my final visa interview. Why haven't I been scheduled,
despite the eligibility? And when can I expect to be scheduled? This is actually one of the most
common questions that we also get on this YouTube channel, my emails directly to me, and also on our
websites. This is a big concern that everybody's wondering, despite being documented qualified,
no interviews are being scheduled Charlie Oppenheim, explains that this is due to so
many factors. One of the main factors is that embassies and consulates are still not operating
regularly. Some of them are open and some of them are processing cases on an emergency basis only.
And what Charlie mentioned in the live stream, he said that NVC continued to
schedule interviews throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, of course on a very limited basis.
At the moment, they are warehousing close to 500,000 cases, as I mentioned in previous videos,
and they really depend on the availability of embassies and consulates
to open interview slots. As soon as they do, NVC is able to move those documented qualified cases
to schedule them for interviews. He also said the consular posts, embassies worldwide provide their
availability to the NVC about 30 to 60 days in advance. So for example, if they know that
they're going to have slots open for September or October, they usually notify the NVC two months or
30 days in advance to let them know that they have the following amount of appointments available.
So NVC will start scheduling those cases and move them to the embassy. They also say that other
than age out cases, inter-country adoption cases and expedited requests based on various factors
and the national interest exceptions aside from these categories NVC will schedule appointments
in chronological order based on the date when the case was deemed documented qualified. And you know
when you definitely quantify because NVC will let you know as soon as they're done with your case
and classify you as documentarily qualified, so essentially, this is how they do it. If you're not
part of those exceptions. As I mentioned before, your case will be scheduled in chronological
order, depending on when you were documented qualified. One thing that you want to do is you
want to look at the NVC backlog report, which we can link in the description of this video.
And we've also done a video discussing that backlog. In that report, You can see what
cases they are working on right now. What is the backlog and how many appointments are they issuing
each and every month? Currently, what we know is that they're trying to catch up on cases that were
scheduled as far as March of 2020. They're trying to clear their backlog and they're going backward.
And so hopefully, as embassies and consulates continue to reopen, continue to open more slots
for interviews. We're hoping that you will also see an improvement in how they scheduled these
interviews and you'll get yours as well. Another question that comes up often is the following.
Do you expect the India EB3 final action date to reach January 1, 2014? application filing date,
which had been announced earlier this year? According to the State Department,
the answer is yes. India's final action date for September is going to be January 1,
2014. Do you have any information regarding the amount of the unused fiscal year 2021 family and
employment numbers that there may be? And for this answer, let's see what Charlie himself had to say.
These past YouTube events have mentioned that both the State Department and USCIS are doing
everything possible based on their respective processing capabilities in an effort to maximize
number use in both the family and employment and diversity visa categories. I can tell you,
there's been a significant increase in the amount of family-sponsored number use in our overseas
posts during the past two months. And therefore I have lowered my previous estimate of unused family
numbers slightly. And now I believe there'll be approximately 150,000 unused family numbers.
On the employment side, USCIS's use of employment numbers continues to increase.
It may not be at the levels many people would like but it is increasing and they're doing their best.
But I do believe there could be approximately 100,000 unused employment numbers. Again,
the COVID-related issues which have had a dramatic negative impact on the processing
of 2000 fiscal 2021 cases continue to make providing these estimates very difficult.
But again, I can assure everyone that every effort is being made by State Department
offices and USCIS offices to maximize number use under the respective 2021 annual limits.
As you can see, based on what Charlie's explained, the USCIS and the State Department are making
every effort to maximize number use under the 2021 annual visa limits. So hopefully they will
go as planned. And we'll be able to update you in the next month as well. Our next question is
going to focus on the family visa numbers. And the question is the following. In the last session,
you mentioned that almost all application filing dates of the October 2020 visa bulletin have been
reached by the final action dates in 2021. That is not true for family-sponsored categories. Can
you explain why? And so while it's true that most application filing dates announced in October 2020
were reached. It's actually true mostly for the employment-based categories. As Charlie Oppenheim
mentioned in his update. In the employment-based categories, all employment application filing
dates have been reached or exceeded in the retrogressed final action date for EB3, India
will ultimately be reached as well in September 2021. This is not the case with family-sponsored
applications. And the reason is because 95% of family-based petitions are actually processed
overseas in the application filing dates, which were announced last year by the State Department
were based on the prediction that hopefully the embassies and consulates are going to be able to
resume somehow normal operation procedures, which obviously didn't happen. And as a result, these
conditions prevented the State Department to reach the visa numbers in the family-based categories
for that fiscal year. And of course, we'll continue to monitor the situation. We'll see
how the family categories are going to continue to progress as we come close to the end of the
fiscal year 2021. And here's what it is, many of the employment-based final action dates have been
advancing at a rapid pace this year. And we're wondering if we can expect the dates to become
current, as happened in July of 2007. And if those of you that remember what happened in July of
2007, pretty much all employment-based categories, EB3, EB2 become current, A lot of people who were
in the United States pending and waiting for many years, were eligible to file Adjustment of Status.
It was really, really hectic because everybody wanted to do it to ensure that they're going to
get that opportunity. So the question is, is this going to happen again this year?
Charlie said that most likely it's not going to happen. And Charlie says no because, under the
current demand, there is no need to make all these categories current. If there are already current.
There's going to be no push to make anything current beyond what is already available.
Because The demand is not there yet. So don't expect to see all employment categories become
current, including India or China. Whatever is current now will remain the same until
the end of the fiscal year. This is specifically important for example, category EB1, which was
growing for the past few months, and will remain current throughout the end of the year. So
hopefully you found this information helpful in this video. If you're here for the first time,
don't forget to subscribe to our channel, click the notification bell so you don't miss any of our
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We're here to support and help you as well. Thanks for watching, and I'll see you in the next video.