How does the Visa Bulletin actually work?

     

 I post about the Visa Bulletin, but how does it work? What are the priority dates, and how do we read them? In this video, I'll break it down step by step. How does the Visa bulletin actually work? As I mentioned before, you're watching my videos every single month when I talk about the Visa bulletin. I explain what's happening, but what are the actual priority dates and how do they apply to the visa bulletin? I'm going to explain to you what priority dates are and how we establish priority dates. Why priority dates are actually very important The two different charts in the Visa bulletin—the final action dates and the dates of filing—why do we have annual quotas and limits in the different Visa categories? analyzing the actual Visa bulletin What is retro progression, and why do they issue the visa bulletin usually 2–3 weeks in advance of the month that it's being issued? I'm going to try to break it down as fast as I can in this video. Listen, my friends, the concept of priority dates is very confusing to many of you. I know this because I read the comments and I read your messages. There is a statutory limit; it's actually set in statute. how many people may be granted green cards every year in every category this applies in family based categories as well as an employment based in this kind of cases the government uses priority date to determine when an immigrant can actually file for the green card and when a green card will become available the priority date as I mentioned before will determine when a person can file for adjustment of status inside the United States or if they outside of the United States it will determine when a Visa will become available therefore understanding priority date is extremely important for your immigration process before I explain this in detail if you're here for the first time don't forget to subscribe to our Channel click the notification Bell so you don't miss any of our videos and also give us a big like so YouTube will be able to show this video to more people just like you as always if you need help with your immigration matters all you have to do is send me a text to 619 483 4549 or go to www. immigration asap.com and one of our team members will contact you ASAP So first of all, how do we establish a priority date in employment-based cases? when you file your perm labor certification with the labor department that's when you establish the priority date for employment based cases you'll have that date listed on your your perm application if you file in green card without a labor certification let's say under the national interest waiver or eb1a the priority date will be established when you file form i140 you'll see that date on your receipt if you're filing a family based application your priority date will be established when you file form i130 the most common petition used to immigrate family members however if you're filing a green card for a spouse of us citizen or a parent of a US citizen remember that you don't have to worry about a priority date because in those cases these are immediate visas available for you you don't have to wait in those cases these are the only exceptions if you are a foreign National and you're now inside the United States and you're applying for an employment based petition let's say eb2 or eb3 if you're inside the United States you need to know because of the backlog of these visas when is your turn to file for your GRE card that is going to be established by your priority date and the Visa bulletin of the particular month number one number two if you are a family based petition and again either you're inside the United States or outside the United States you want to know first when a green card will become available for you or if you're inside the United States when you can file for adjustment of status you're going to use your priority date to check the Visa bulletin and see if your date is after the date listed on the Visa bulletin of the particular month then you know that you can either file your case if you're inside the United States or a Visa will be available for you if you're waiting at an embassy or consulate overseas therefore priority dates are very very important because when you're looking at the Visa bulletin every month I present to you a video about the current Visa bulletin if you don't understand how the priority date works then you're not going to understand how to read the Visa bulletin remember your priority was have to be either current or after the date that is or after the date that is listed on the current Visa buity remember on the Visa bulletin we have two charts One chart is the final action dates, and chart number two is called the dates for filing. remember the first chart the final action chart is very important because it tells us when an immigrant Visa is actually going to be available for you and that means until the dates are current in the final action dates chart you're not going to be able to get your green card approved it is very important now if you're inside the United States and you already filed and you're waiting and you're pending your green card will not be approved until the dates will be current on the final action date chart now what is the chart dates of filing what is the difference if you're overseas and your dates are current in the dates for filing chart that means that now is time for you to assemble and prepare your documents to be sent to the National visa center if you're inside the United States and those dates are current that means you'll be able to file for your adjustment of status inside the United States now remember until the dates occured in the final action dates you're not going to be able to get approved and get your green card but you'll be able to file and start the process if you are in legal status inside the United States therefore in some cases it might be a little bit faster for people that are currently inside the United States and they are legal to be able to start their Green Card process if the dates for filing chart is current in some cases it's a little bit faster but again until the dates are current in the final action dates chart you're not going to be able to get your green cards approved now what are cut of dates and why are they so important now remember the reason why there are dates on the Visa bulleon we call them cut off dates so you can the different dates for the different countries for example if you're from China India Mexico the Philippines you might have different dates on your chart for different categories as opposed to somebody who's born in a different country so for example if you look at f2a category which is spouses of green card holders if you are not from India the Philippines China or Mexico, you will have faster processing times than people who are coming from those countries because there are too many immigrants coming from those countries, and therefore the government has to set up what is called cut-off dates to limit the number of people coming from those countries, and therefore the government has to set up what is called cut-off dates to limit the number of people that are immigrating from a particular country and from a particular visa category. Now, remember that we also have per-country limits, so no matter how big or small the country is, they have a certain number of immigrants that can immigrate from their country. Therefore, countries that usually send a lot of immigrants, like India China and the Philippines are usually have longer wait times because they already used up the allocation for their particular country as opposed to Country like say Germany or France that have less immigrant that are being sent to the United States every year remember that the Visa bulletin is always issued a few weeks in advance so for example if you're watching this video in June and we already have the July Visa bulletin whatever states in the Visa bulletin in July will only apply in July so for example if one category is going to be unavailable in July means you have to hurry up and apply in June so you'll be able to make it while your category is still current this happens every once in a while we had this thing happen in 2017 when the eb3 category was becoming retrogress and people knew about it a few weeks in advance so they were hurrying up like crazy to be able to file if they were ready to qualify before it retrogress same thing could happen this year if eb3 category will be retrogress in August people know if theyve eligible they're going to start fighting in July to be able to meet the deadline so it's always so it's always always important to look at the Visa Buon as soon as comes out because you'll have a few weeks to act if your Visa category will become retrogress or unavailable in the month ahead now let's talk about retrogression for example what happens if you file a case let's say in May while visas are still current and then the category retrogress is in August now remember as long as you filed your adjustment of status inside the United States before the retrogression USCIS will continue to work on your case what's going to happen is that you're not going to be able to get an approval but you're still going to be able to get your work permit your travel Document even if your Visa category is not available if you're overseas that's a different story if you're overseas that means you're going to have to keep waiting until your category will become current because the embassy is not going to give you an interview if there's no Visa available for you now remember therefore I always tell my applicants if you are able to be in the United States in any capacity in legal status and you going through the Green Card process it's always much better because dates for filing is always a little bit faster than final election dates and also if you file your application like a lot of our clients in the f2a category when they filed for the green card and then this category went back in time they still were able to stay in the United States on their work permits be with their spouses so if you can't be inside the United States do so as long as you're in legal status remember the Visa bulletin numbers are very important in the Green Card process because these priority dates is what determines how fast you'll be able to get your green card remember it's not enough just to be documented complete it's not enough just to get to the National visa center it is also important to make sure that you have a Visa category available for you I get calls from applicant and say hey I've been documentary complete for a year a year and a half and I don't have an interview yet and then I go into the Visa bulletin and I check and I see their priority date is not current yet and that's why there's no interview so hopefully you now understand what priority dates are and how to look at the Visa bulletin if you found this information helpful please make sure to share my video with somebody that might need it and if you need help with your immigration matters all you have to to do is send me a text 61948 34549 or go to www.immigration.com and leave your information there once again thanks for watching and I'll see you on the next video [Music]