June 2014 Visa Bulletin Is Out: Where do we begin??

The June 2014 visa bulletin brings some very bad news for both Family-Based (FB) and Employment-Based (EB) categories. If there’s an award for “The Worst Visa Bulletin,” the June 2014 visa bulletin could easily steal the top spot. (Sigh).

The Good

• EB-3 (and other workers) Philippines: +2 MONTHS => January 1, 2008
• EB-2 Mainland China: +5 WEEKS => May 22, 2009

The Bad

• EB-3 (and other workers) for all chargeability, including Mexico: -18 MONTHS => April 1, 2011
• F2A for all chargeability, including Mainland China, India, and the Philippines: -16 MONTHS => May 1, 2012
• F2A Mexico: -13 MONTHS => March 15, 2011

The Ugly

• EB-3 Mainland China: -6 YEARS => OCTOBER 1, 2006
• Other Workers Mainland China: -9 YEARS & 9 MONTHS => JANUARY 1, 2003

The State Department notes:

RETROGRESSION OF JUNE CUT-OFF DATES

WORLDWIDE F2A: The cut-off date for the Family F2A category was advanced at a very rapid pace during fiscal year 2013 in an effort to generate demand to use all numbers available under the annual limit. Those movements have resulted in a dramatic increase in the level of applicant demand being received during the past seven months. This has required the retrogression of the Family F2A cut-off date for June in an effort to hold number use within the annual numerical limit. Further retrogression cannot be ruled out should demand by applicants with very early priority dates continue to increase.

MEXICO F2A: Despite a previous retrogression, the level of demand has remained excessive, resulting in a further retrogression of this cut-off date to hold number use within the annual limit.

Employment Third, and Third Other Workers: The unexpected and dramatic increase in demand being received from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service Offices during the past several months has resulted in number use approaching the annual limit for this category. As a result, it has been necessary to retrogress the Worldwide, China, and Mexico cut-off dates for the month of June.

Notices were included in several Visa Bulletins during the past year alerting readers to the possibility of such retrogressions. While corrective action in some categories has become necessary earlier than was anticipated based on the information available earlier, it is hoped that readers are not caught off guard by these retrogressions.

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