The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced today that beginning with the Visa Bulletin for November 2015, USCIS will make a determination each month on whether there are more immigrant visas available for the fiscal year than there are known applicants for such visas. If immigrant visas are available, applicants may use the “Dates for Filing Visa Applications” chart as the basis for filing their I-485 adjustment of status applications. Otherwise, the “Application Final Action Dates” chart will be used in determining when individuals may file their adjustment of status applications. USCIS will make such determination available to applicants every month within one week from the publication of the new Visa Bulletin by the State Department, through the new Visa Bulletin information web page.
This latest instruction is in contrast with USCIS’ original announcement on September 9, 2015, which revised the immigrant visa application procedures and instructed applicants to use the “Dates for Filing Visa Application” chart as a priority date reference when filing I-485 adjustment of status application.
