Green Card Priority Dates:

USCIS released its December 2012 Edition of Visa Bulletin much earlier than expected this time mentioning the green card priority dates for the december month. With the United States just having got through the elections, the USCIS declares the EB2 priority date still remains the same at 1^st SEP 2004 and the EB3 priority date has gone forward to 1^st November 2002.

This is Expected! Having the Elections around and being almost the end of the year, this delay is expected. The EB2 priority date for India still remains the same at SEP 01 2004. The EB3 priority date moved slightly forward from Oct 22^nd 2002 to Nov 1^st 2002. EB1, EB4 and EB5 continue to remain processing the current dates.

The December 2012 Visa Bulletin is accessible at:

http://www.travel.state.gov/visa/bulletin/bulletin_5803.html

Employment Based Categories:

• EB1 refers to priority workers. Persons of extraordinary ability in the sciences, arts, education, business, and athletics, outstanding professors and researchers and certain executives and managers.
• EB2 refers to professionals holding advanced degrees, or persons of exceptional ability in the arts, sciences, or business.
• EB3 refers to skilled workers and professionals holding baccalaureate degrees.
• EB4 refers to certain special immigrants. These include religious workers, certain overseas employees of the U.S. Government, former employees of the Panama Canal Company, retired employees of international organizations, certain dependents of international organization employees and certain members of the U.S. Armed Forces.
• EB5 refers to employment creation investors.

Previous month’s Visa Bulletins Updates:

November 2012:  http://h1bwiki.com/uscis-update-upcoming-nov-2012-eb2-priority-date/

October 2012: http://h1bwiki.com/green-card-update-eb2-priority-date-pushed-back-to-sep-2004/

Prediction: What can we expect coming month?

I would say it would still be around the same figures as per what we see this month. November and December of any year are the slowest months. So, I only can say we may not expect much out of the coming month.

How do you think the EB2 and EB3 green card priority dates would change for the year 2013? Do you see any luck to have the EB2 and EB3 priority dates pushed forward in the coming months? Please share your thoughts by commenting in the blog or write to us at [email protected]