Immigrant Visa Bulletin for January 2016

The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services released the January 2016 Visa Bulletin for adjustment of status applicants.[1]

The Visa Bulletin shows when a person who is the beneficiary of an approved Form I-485 petition may file for an immigrant visa. It includes filing dates for family-sponsored and employment-based immigrant visa preference categories.

An alien may file for an immigrant visa once his or her priority date is before the filing date listed on the appropriate chart. The priority date is generally the date on which the alien's sponsor (either a family member or an employer, except in self-petitioning cases) filed the Form I-485 petition on his or her behalf. If labor certification required for an alien who was the beneficiary of an employment-based Form I-485 petition, the date that the labor certification was accepted for processing serves as the priority date.

Please note that “C” stands for “current,” and means that an alien in the given category with an approved Form I-485 is eligible to file for an immigrant visa in January of 2016 regardless of his or her priority date.

DATES FOR FILING FAMILY-SPONSORED ADJUSTMENT OF STATUS APPLICATIONS (JANUARY 2016)

Family- Sponsored	All Chargeability Areas Except Those Listed	CHINA- mainland born	INDIA	MEXICO	PHILIPPINES
F1	01OCT09	01OCT09	01OCT09	01APR95	01SEP05
F2A	15JUN15	15JUN15	15JUN15	15JUN15	15JUN15
F2B	15DEC10	15DEC10	15DEC10	01APR96	01MAY05
F3	01AUG05	01AUG05	01AUG05	01MAY95	01AUG95
F4	01MAY04	01MAY04	01MAY04	01JUN98	01JAN93

APPLICATION FINAL ACTION DATES FOR EMPLOYMENT-BASED PREFERENCE CASES (JANUARY 2016) 

Employment- Based	All Chargeability Areas Except Those Listed	CHINA — mainland born	INDIA	MEXICO	PHILIPPINES
1st	C	C	C	C	C
2nd	C	01FEB12	01FEB08	C	C
3rd	01OCT15	01JUL12	15MAY04	01OCT15	01NOV07
Other workers	01OCT15	01DEC06	15MAY04	01OCT15	01NOV07
4th	C	C	C	C	C
Certain Religious Workers	C	C	C	C	C
5th Non-Regional Center (C5 and T5)	C	08JAN14	C	C	C
5th Regional Center (I5 and R5)	C	08JAN14	C	C	C

We have included the final action dates for “Certain Religions Workers” and “5th Regional Center (I5 and R5)” that will be effective once the congressional omnibus bill is signed into law. These two programs had been slated to expire before Congress agreed to fund them until September 30, 2016.

The USCIS news release contains a chart that provides a simple overview of the adjustment of status process. I have reproduced the chart below for your convenience: 

Please visit the nyc immigration lawyers website for further information. The Law Offices of Grinberg & Segal, PLLC focuses vast segment of its practice on immigration law. This steadfast dedication has resulted in thousands of immigrants throughout the United States.

1. USCIS, “When to File Your Adjustment of Status Application for Family-Sponsored or Employment-Based Preference Visas: January 2016, USCIS, (Dec. 11, 2015), available at http://www.uscis.gov/visabulletin-jan-16 (PDF version)

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