In this video, we'll talk about the January 2021 visa bulletin. And towards the end of the video,
I'll also explain what it means for family members and family-based petitions that
are waiting abroad to get their interviews at US embassies and consulates worldwide.
Welcome to our Immigration channel. Here, we share tips, news updates, and information to
help you with your immigration journey. I release videos every single week so make sure to subscribe
to our channel, click that bell to be notified so you don't miss any of our videos. And also,
give us the big like so YouTube will recommend this video to more people just like you. Let's
talk about the visa bulletin in January 2021. So, it's been a few days since the visa bulletin was
released. And I wanted to make this video to give you a quick update. And also, maybe provide some
predictions as to what's going to happen in the months ahead. So, make sure you watch this video
to the end. Well, I'm going to tell you what I think about what's going to happen with family
members that are waiting overseas, as they are expecting for embassies and consulates to reopen,
how this visa bulletin is going to impact, what's going to happen with those upcoming interviews.
So, let's dive right in. So, if you look at his visa bulletin, there's been virtually almost no
movement from the visa bulletin of December. We've seen a little bit of movement in the
family categories. And I'm going to go over it as we look at the chart. But essentially,
it's very similar to what we've seen in December. So, let's take a look at the chart. So, now, let's
look at the employment-based categories. For the final action dates chart. The final action date
determines when an Adjustment of Status I-45 can be approved, or when an immigrant visa if you're
overseas, can be issued and approved. So, let's look at that. If we look at EB1 India and China
in December, India was on April 1, 2018. China was also on April 1, 2018. There's a movement forward
by five months which is good news. EB2 the rest of the world is no change at, its current. EB2 India
moved by one week, from October 1 to October 8. EB2 China moved by one month from May 1
to June 1, EB3, rest of the world is current. EB3 India moves by one week from March 15 to March 22.
And EB3 China, December, it was November 1 and now in January, it's December 15. We have a movement
of six weeks for EB3 China. EB3 Mexico and EB3 Philippines are current. So, as you can see,
there's been a slight movement forward in certain countries, specifically China and India.
But it wasn't that much. It's virtually identical to what happened in December. Now, let's look
at the dates of filing for employment-based categories and compare the charts of December
and January. The date of filing chart essentially determines when Adjustment of Status applications
can actually be filed. So, let's take a look at that chart. One big change that we have
in the January visa bulletin is that the USCIS has announced that the chart that they are going to be
using for Adjustment of Status in January is going to be the final action dates which are different
from December, which was the dates of filing charts. So, that's an important thing to notice
as you are planning your Adjustment of Status cases. So, let's look at that chart right now. So,
as we look at the dates of filing employment-based categories, EB1 is current all over the world. EB1
India, no change. EB1 China, no change. EB2 is current, there's no change from
December EB2 India. EB2 China, they're stuck. EB2 India stuck on May 15,
2011. China stuck on October 1, 2016. EB3 is current for the rest of the world. EB3 is
current for the rest of the world so essentially, the date for filing employment visa categories
is identical to December. So, just want to kind of run through this real quick. Let's move and talk,
real quick, about the family-based categories. Right now, those are really important because
people are anxious to get their visas and we know as embassies are closed, no appointments are being
processed. It's definitely making an impact on the visa bulletin, and as a result, you can see that
more of a movement on the employment-based categories but as we get more embassies to reopen,
as we get more interviews being scheduled, we're going to be seeing retrogression on the
employment side which we don't see at the moment but it is definitely coming. So, let's take a,
look for a second, in the family-based visa bulletin, final action dates This
determines when Adjustment of Status can be approved, and when immigrant visas can also
be approved. F1 China and India, no change. If you look at the F1 category from Mexico,
there's been… in December, they were on January 8, 1998. They moved to January 15, 1998, a one-week
movement. F1 category Philippines, two weeks movement forward. In December was December 15,
2011. And now, we are on January 1, 2012. F2A is current for China, India, the Philippines.
And it's also current for Mexico as well. So, if you're in the United States, and you are married
to a green card holder, you're able to file your Adjustment of Status. Right now it's current. Now,
let's look quickly at the date of filing chart for family petitions. Once again, that chart means
when you can actually file your Adjustment of Status application if you are inside the US,
F1 China, and India, no change, they’re stuck on July 22, 2015. F1 category Mexico,
no change. They're stuck on February 22, 2000, F1 The Philippines also stuck on October 8, 2012. It
hasn't changed from December, identical. And the same thing for F2A China, India, the Philippines,
August 1, 2020, just like in December, and the same for Mexico. So, why is there such a movement,
a forward movement in the employment-based categories, and virtually no movement in the
family-based petitions? As many of our viewers are aware, the USCIS offices have been closed
for many, many months. And only recently, they started to reopen in different phases. And even
when they reopened, the process of getting interviews and processing these applications
is taking a really long time. They're still experiencing severe delays and backlogs. At the
same time, US embassies and consulates worldwide have not really reopened officially. They are
reopening in phases. But we still see a lot of people are waiting for their visa interviews,
and not too many family visas are being issued abroad. As a result of these closures and delays,
fewer visa numbers were used by consulates and USCIS offices. In addition, we see lower
demand for visas because of the concerns about the economic situation in the United States,
many employers are pulling back on their plans to file for green cards, for their employees as well.
As a result, I expect that the allocations of employment-based visas are going to go up in 2021.
And the reason is because any unused family visas must be allocated towards the employment side. So,
these are really good news for our employment as clients as we can see the demand increase for
employment-based visas, but the State Department is cautious that this is not going to continue
forever. And we expect that in the next two months or sooner, the F2A category will no longer remain
current. Therefore, if you’re here in the United States and you're a green card holder,
and you're married to an immigrant, you need to file for your Adjustment of Status
sooner than later because that category is going to retrogress and go back by a year or more.
Who knows, just like it used to be several years ago. So, hopefully, this information was useful.
I think it's important for you to plan your next steps whether you're inside the US or outside of
the United States to make a decision how you're going to be proceeding with your green card case,
whether you're inside the US or outside the United States, whether it's a family petition
or employment-based petition. Once again, if you're here for the first time,
don't forget to subscribe to our channel and give us a big like so YouTube will be able to show this
video to more people just like you. Thanks for watching, and I'll see you in our next video.
If you like this video, watch these two videos for more information just like that.